000137 Cargill Posts First Half Earnings of $295 MillionJanuary 25, 2000Minneapolis, MN - Cargill Inc., the largest private company in the United States, said it posted net earnings of $295 million in the first six months of its 1999/200 fiscal year ended on November 30, 1999. The closely held commodities and agribusiness company gave no exact comparison to the first six months of its 1998/99 fiscal year, when it posted an undisclosed net operating loss due to trading losses in Russia and emerging markets. Last year's first half earnings overall were $587 million, made up of a one- time after-tax gain from the sale of the company's international seed business to Monsanto. Earnings in the quarter ended November 30, 1999, were $145 million, compared to $150 million in the first quarter. “Cargill's results were led by our financial businesses, which continued their strong recovery from a year ago, and our beef processing business,” said Robert Lumpkins, Cargill's vice chairman and chief financial officer. “Other top performers included poultry processing, animal nutrition and cattle feeding, cocoa, and energy and sugar trading,” Lumpkins said. Slow recovery in Asian demand, combined with a fourth year of good global harvests and excess industry capacity, contributed to disappointing results for Cargill's grain and oilseeds businesses, he said. “These have been tough times for everyone in agriculture,” Lumpkins said. “We continue to invest the majority of the company's cash flow in developing new products and technologies, strengthening our services and lowering costs.” Cargill is a marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products and services with some 82,000 employees in 59 countries.
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