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Bunge Stock Plunges On 1Q Loss, Lower Guidance

The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Shares of Bunge Ltd. fell Thursday after the food products and fertilizer maker reduced its 2009 profit forecast, as fiercer-than-expected price-cutting among competitors weighed the company to a first-quarter loss.

The stock fell $6.76, or 12.4 percent, to $47.74 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of $27.60 to $127.64.

Bunge said Thursday that it lost $195 million, or $1.76 per share, in the three months ended March 31. In the same period last year, the company turned a profit of $289 million, or $2.10 per share.

Sales fell 26 percent to $9.2 billion from $12.47 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 49 cents per share and revenue of $11 billion.

Bunge reported declines in all four of its main businesses — agribusiness, fertilizer, edible oil products and milling products. Sales in the agribusiness division fell 25 percent to $6.6 billion, while fertilizer sales dropped 41 percent to $699 million.

The company slashed its 2009 earnings guidance to a range of $4.90 to $5.40 per share from a previous forecast of $6.90 to $7.60 per share, but said it remained optimistic about a turnaround in the second half of the year.

Bunge Chief Executive Alberto Weisser, said aggressive price cuts by competitors hurt the company's retail fertilizer profit margins in Brazil and global demand for soybean meal — a major Bunge product — was soft.

"Despite this difficult start, our confidence in a recovery in our markets and a solid performance in the second half of the year remains strong," he said in a statement.