Andrew J. Burke
Analyst · Citi Research
Thank you, Alberto. Our results in the fourth quarter include noncash after-tax charges of $683 million. The major components of these charges are shown on Slide 3. Our Sugar & Bioenergy business, we have recorded an after-tax goodwill impairment charge of $327 million as a result of our annual goodwill impairment test according with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which is based on the fair market value of the business on the test date. At the test date, the sugar industry was under pressure from the effects of adverse weather and low ethanol margins, and merger and acquisition activity was low, making it difficult to benchmark business values. Given that, it was prudent to conduct the Step 2 testing required by the accounting standard. That standard requires you to perform acquisition accounting based on the current fair value of your assets and liabilities. Replacement value of our assets has increased significantly, so the calculation resulted in the impairment of our goodwill. While the value of our agricultural and industrial assets has increased, we cannot recognize this increase in value of the assets for accounting purposes. We continue to believe in the future of our Sugar & Bioenergy business and our ability to create significant shareholder value. We have made the necessary investments in sugarcane planting to allow us to run the plants at full capacity. We continue to expand our production capabilities at our current facilities, increase our agricultural industrial productivity and invest in cogeneration. The recent policy and pricing moves in Brazil is supportive to our business, and we believe pricing will continue to strengthen. During the fourth quarter, we signed an agreement to sell our Fertilizer business to Yara for $750 million. Accordingly, the results of our Brazilian fertilizer operation are shown as discontinued operations and the assets of that business are classified as assets held for sale. In the fourth quarter, we recorded 2 charges related to this business. We recorded a valuation allowance of $266 million on the deferred tax assets related to our net operating loss carryforward, as our ability to use these losses is uncertain because of our exit from the retail industry in Brazil. We also recorded a $32 million after-tax provision against our long-term farmer account receivables balance, as we believe the sale of our business will negatively impact our ability to collect those amounts as many of these receivables are with farmers who grow crops that we do not handle in our Agribusiness operations. We expect the transaction to close in mid- to late 2013, and we expect to record a gain on the sale. During December 2012 and January 2013, we sold certain long-term tax and legal claims in Brazil for approximately $91 million in cash. And in relation to these sales, we recorded a loss in the fourth quarter of $73 million, and we will record a gain of approximately $60 million in the first quarter of 2013. Let's turn to Page 4. Total segment EBIT for the quarter is a loss of $414 million. When you add back the impact of certain gains and charges, total segment EBIT was a profit of $149 million versus a prior-year EBIT of $295 million. A complete list of the gains and charges is shown in the schedules attached to our press release. On a full-year basis, adjusted segment EBIT was $1.1 billion versus the prior year of $1.15 billion. Agribusiness recorded an adjusted quarterly EBIT of $134 million versus $199 million in the prior year. Volumes in the quarter were slightly lower, reflecting the drought's impact on North American grain volumes and South American oilseed processing volumes. For the full year, our volumes increased 13%, primarily reflecting higher grain export volumes from the Black Sea region and our new terminal in the Pacific Northwest. North American [indiscernible] processing had a strong quarter. These results were offset by lower oilseed processing results in our European soft seed and Asian businesses. Our grain trading and merchandising business benefited from export programs out of South America and Eastern Europe. Our North American Grains business performed slightly better than the prior year, but came in below our expectations due to lower export volumes and margins. In general, risk management performed below expectations in the quarter. On a full-year basis, Agribusiness reported a record adjusted EBIT of $1,038,000,000. Full year's results were driven by strong performance in our grain and merchandising business, as our full value chain approach worked well. Strong South American grain origination, coupled with a global distribution network, drew strong volumes and margins. Oilseed processing performed well in North and South America, while soft seed processing results in Europe were lower. Sugar & Bioenergy reported an adjusted EBIT loss of $49 million in the quarter versus the prior-year EBIT profit of $3 million. The loss reflects the continuing impact of the weather on total recoverable sugars and the fact that hydrous ethanol margins were negative in the quarter. Our sugar planting program for 2012 was successfully completed, and we plan to have sufficient cane available to crush at our full capacity in the 2013 crop year. Our productivity programs continues to achieve positive results, as shown by a 15% decline in our unit production costs during the fourth quarter. Results were also impacted by weakness on our trading and merchandising and North American ethanol businesses. On a full-year basis, our Sugar & Bioenergy business recorded an adjustment EBIT loss of $118 million. This reflects the impact of reduced total recoverable sugars on our revenues and costs, and depressed ethanol margins in our industrial business and low margins in our trading and merchandising business. We crushed approximately 17 million tons during the year versus our capacity of 21 million tons. As previously mentioned, we expect that sufficient cane available to crush at our 21 million-ton capacity next year. Our Food business reported an adjusted EBIT of $49 million. Within that result are provisions related to Brazil value-added taxes of $22 million. If you add that back, you come to a profit of 72 -- $71 million, which is in line with prior year and our expectations. Our edible oils and wheat milling businesses performed well in the quarter, while corn and rice milling results were below prior year. On a year-to-date basis, our Food & Ingredients business reported an adjusted EBIT of $166 million versus a prior year of $235 million. The shortfall was primarily due to low results in Brazil in the first half of the year related to challenges within ERP system implementation that resulted in lost sales opportunities. Those issues are behind us and those businesses performed better in the second half. Our adjusted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.57 versus $1.80 in the prior year. On a full year basis, adjusted earnings per share was $4.62 versus $5.96 in the prior year. Let's turn to Page 5 and the cash flow summary. Our cash flow provided by operating activities in the quarter was $2.4 billion, comprised of funds from operations of $161 million and an inflow of $2.3 billion from changes in operating assets and liabilities. Funds from operations are primarily comprised of our net income, excluding the noncash charges, and depreciation and amortization. The change in operating assets and liabilities primarily reflects lower inventory levels and commodity prices. On a full-year basis, cash used by operating activities was $455 million, comprised of an inflow of $1.1 billion from funds from operations, offset by an outflow of $1.6 billion from changes in operating assets and liabilities. The increase in operating assets and liabilities is mainly due to the increasing commodity prices between year end 2011 and 2012. Our capital spending for 2012 was $1.1 billion and in line with our plan. Let's turn to Page 6 and the balance sheet. Our balance sheet and available liquidity remains strong. The working capital increase primarily reflects an increase in inventories due to higher commodity prices. The higher debt levels are primarily due to the higher working capital balances. At December 31, we had $3.4 billion of liquidity available under our committed credit facilities. Let's turn to Page 7 and the outlook for 2013. We expect a stronger performance in 2013. In Agribusiness, the market is anticipating record crops in South America, and they are needed to rebuild global supplies. Our strong position in these markets, particularly our logistic import networks, will allow us to source increased volumes and distribute them through our global network. The main South American export season will be from March to September. After that time, new crop will become available in North America and Europe and trade is expected to shift to these regions. As the new crop is harvested, we expect good South American oilseed processing volumes and margins. Both domestic and export demand should be strong. Near-term margins in North American are good, but they will weaken as oilseed supplies decline and the South American harvest commences. We expect stronger margins, again, in the latter part of the year, with the arrival of the new crop. In Europe, margins are mixed. Rapeseed margins have improved while sunseed margins have weakened. Asia margins improved towards year end and demand for meal is strong. Please turn to Page 8. In Sugar & Bioenergy, we expect to see significant improvement. Our 2012 planting program was successful, and we are now in a position to operate our plants at their full capacity of 21 million metric tons of cane. Our productivity improvement programs are yielding positive results, and we should see a further 15% reduction on our unit costs in 2013, and we expect to see continued productivity improvements into 2014. We also expect that total recoverable sugar in the cane to move back towards historical norms. This would have a positive impact on both revenues and costs. The remaining headwind is the ethanol price and its impact on margins. On this front, we are encouraged by the recent developments in the Brazilian ethanol market. The blend rate of anhydrous ethanol into gasoline will increase from 20% to 25% on May 1. This should increase demand for a profitable product, and we have taken the necessary steps to be able to supply higher quantities. Additionally, the gasoline price in Brazil has increased approximately 6%. This results in increased ethanol prices and is a move towards bringing Brazilian gasoline prices in line with global gasoline prices. Given the above, we expect our Sugar & Bioenergy business to be solidly profitable in 2013. However, to achieve our target of $8 to $10 EBIT per ton of cane crushed, we need to see prices increase to levels that reflect global gasoline parity on ethanol. To summarize, we are continuing to accomplish the actions that are under our control. We are planting sufficient cane or have planted sufficient cane, to operate at capacity. We're moving towards higher value products. We're increasing our productivity, and we're adding cogeneration capacity. Carrying these improvements through to 2014, along with the 10% to 15% increase in ethanol pricing, should enable us to achieve our financial targets. We would also like to note that the sugarcane milling business is seasonal and the profits will be weighted toward the second half of the year. In Food & Ingredients, we expect the performance in the second half of 2012 to carry into 2013. Our underlying edible oils and milling businesses should perform well, with increased contribution from our wheat milling acquisition in Mexico and our edible oils acquisition in India. We will be starting up a new multi-oil refining facility in India and a new refining and packaging facility in Alabama. We will be also be starting up our new crushing and refining facility in Altona, Canada, which will benefit both our Food and Agribusiness operations. We will have continuing operations in Fertilizer, comprised of our Argentine fertilizer business, our port operation in Brazil and our Moroccan joint venture. We expect these businesses to be profitable. Turning to Page 9, we would like to note that we expect 2013 depreciation, depletion and amortization to be $575 million, our full-year tax rate to be between 17% and 20%, and capital expenditures of $1.2 billion. I would now like to turn the call over to Soren for a few words.