(Reuters) -Global farm commodities trader Bunge Ltd reported a 17.1% rise in fourth-quarter adjusted profit on Wednesday, bolstered by strength in its core agribusiness as well as refined and specialty oils segments.
Bunge’s results offer the latest look into how multinational grain companies have weathered shifts in demand and supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bunge and rival agribusinesses Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co — known as the ABCD quartet of grain trading giants — are now benefiting from improving demand for food and renewable fuel as some pandemic restrictions are easing.
Bunge expects 2022 adjusted earnings of at least $9.50 per share, which the company said would be the second-highest operational performance in the its recent history.
The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted adjusted net income of $533 million, or $3.49 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $455 million or $3.05 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue totaled $16.68 billion, up from $12.61 billion a year earlier.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)