Omaha-ConAgra Foods Inc.’s fertilizer business continues to shine for the company as its food business suffers under the weight of recent recalls. A peanut butter recall last summer was followed by a pot pie recall in October, which cost the company an estimated $27 million. Pot pie production resumed in December. ConAgra’s Trading and Merchandising segment, which includes the fertilizer business, saw a 322.9 percent increase in operating profits in the second quarter ending Nov. 25, 2007, to $164.5 million on sales of $545.5 million, versus the year-ago $38.9 million and $297.3 million. By comparison, operating results in the Consumer Foods segment, ConAgra’s largest segment, were off 15.6 percent. Energy Trading is also within the T&M unit; however, its results, while strong, according to ConAgra, were below year-ago amounts, thereby further showing the positive impact of the fertilizer unit. Six-month T&M profits were up 340.6 percent, to $240.1 million on sales of $873.4 million, versus the year-ago $54.5 million and $502.7 million, respectively. ConAgra-wide, second-quarter net income was up, at $244.8 million ($.50 per share) on sales of $3.5 billion, versus the year-ago $213.3 million ($.42 per share) and $3.1 billion, respectively. Six-month net income was up, at $420.2 million ($.85 per share) on sales of $6.47 billion, versus the year-ago $380.0 million ($.74 per share) and $5.8 billion, respectively.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain