(Reuters) -Global grain trader Archer-Daniels-Midland Co reported a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday that rose nearly 14%, helped by strength at its carbohydrate solutions and nutrition units.
The company said it plans to raise dividend by 8% to 40 cents per share.
The commodity trader’s results offer a look into how the world’s biggest grain traders are weathering the shifts in food and fuel demand triggered by the pandemic.
ADM and rival agribusinesses Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co, together known as the ABCD quartet of grain trading giants, have benefited from rising demand for food and renewable fuel as economies reopen.
ADM’s net earnings rose to $782 million, or $1.38 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from $687 million, or $1.22 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shounak Dasgupta)