Land O’Lakes second quarter net earnings up 67 percent

Land O’Lakes Inc. reported net earnings of $134 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016. That is up 67 percent compared with the same period in 2015.

Courtesy Land O'Lakes Inc.
Courtesy Land O'Lakes Inc.

Land O’Lakes Inc. reported net earnings of $134 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016. That is up 67 percent compared with the same period in 2015.

The cooperative had $3.5 billion in sales for the quarter.

“Despite sustained market volatility and headwinds across the segments where we operate, Land O’Lakes Inc. is reporting significantly higher results year-over-year with strong performance across all of our business units,” said Chris Policinski, Land O’Lakes president and CEO. “We will continue to invest in growth, innovation and our core businesses, and with the addition of our new business unit SUSTAIN continue to collaborate on and improve environmental sustainability for the benefit of our members, customers and partners.”

Segment results

The company’s Animal Feed portfolio saw strong results, particularly within Milk Replacer and Nutrablend. The Lifestyle segment also saw strong results in the second quarter.

Second quarter results in the Crop Inputs segment were driven by the addition of United Suppliers Inc., combined with improved performance in proprietary products. This increase was partially offset by lower seed volumes driven by a strong fourth quarter in 2015 combined with a tighter gross margin environment.

Recent activity

Land O’Lakes announced this week that it has completed its acquisition of Ceres Inc. Ceres will become part of Land O’Lakes’ forage business unit currently comprised of Forage Genetics International (FGI). The transaction brings new advanced plant breeding and biotechnology to FGI’s research and development pipeline, creates the potential to bring new forage traits to market faster and places the business in position to expand the portfolio to become a holistic forage provider to its customers. FGI has significant expertise in field testing, product development and regulatory approval of traits. Ceres has excelled in the discovery and laboratory testing of new forage traits. Combining Ceres and FGI is a joining of complementary strengths and capabilities designed to accelerate the path to creating new forage solutions for farmers globally.

Also, in July, Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced the formal organization of a new business unit, SUSTAIN, and its leadership. SUSTAIN will focus on aligning environmental sustainability efforts across the full Land O’Lakes Inc. enterprise. SUSTAIN will focus on helping to ensure sustainable crop production by delivering insights, products and services; enhancing sustainability within the Dairy Foods and Feed businesses; and partnering with other entities, including government, to improve efficiency and collaboration on conservation and sustainability programs.

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