The privately held Minnetonka-based (Minnesota,USA) company, which releases only limited financial results, posted net earnings of $898 million, up from $326 million for the same time a year ago.
This year’s third-quarter results include a $169 million one-time gain from discontinued operations, reflecting the sale of Cargill’s Brazilian pork and poultry business.
Excluding the Brazilian gain as well as Cargill’s majority investment in Mosaic Co., a publicly held fertilizer maker, Cargill’s results were still nearly double what they were during its fiscal third quarter last year.
The agribusiness giant last year saw its business slowed considerably by global recession.
Chief Executive Greg Page said that Cargill benefited from the faster pace of recovery in emerging markets compared with developed markets.
Cargill’s agricultural services business got a boost from a late and large North American harvest.
But its energy trading results – part of its risk management and financial operations – were not as strong as in the year-ago quarter because markets were considerably less volatile.