The Sweetener Story: It's Not Which Type, But How Much
CRA
Corn Products International’s net income fell 38% in the first quarter largely due to a one-off gain a year earlier, and less growth than expected in international markets, while adjusted net profit was down 2%.
Corn Products’ profits soared last year as it managed to offset increased raw commodity costs with higher prices. But the sweeteners and starches maker saw net income fall to $94.2m for the quarter ended March 31, from $153.6m a year earlier. Net sales were up 8% to $1.6bn, and earnings per share fell 39 percent to $1.21 compared to $1.97 last year.
Chairman, president and CEO Ilene Gordon said in a statement: "We continue to have a positive outlook for 2012 and expect sales and adjusted EPS improvement compared to 2011. We maintain our view that the year will be somewhat back-end loaded, in contrast to 2011 which was front-end loaded. Beyond that, we are excited about the prospect of our intended name change to Ingredion, which better reflects our portfolio and business model.”
The company intends to change its name mid-May, subject to approval from shareholders, to reflect its more diversified product portfolio, particularly since it acquired National Starch last year.
Excluding one-off charges, the company reported adjusted net income per share of $1.26, down from an adjusted $1.28 the year before.
"As expected, we saw a slight decline in adjusted earnings per share in the first quarter as we lapped a very strong year-ago period which was driven by favorable input costs,” Gordon said. “Underlying our good performance is volume improvement as well as appropriate price increases to cover higher raw material costs. Our overall business fundamentals remain favorable.”
