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Archer-Daniels-Midland Co
Corn Products Profit Rises on Higher Sweetener Prices (Update3)

By Jeff Wilson

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Corn Products International Inc., a maker of grain-based sweeteners and starches, said fourth- quarter profit surged 40 percent on increased prices and sales in North America. The shares rose the most in two months.

Net income rose to $32.9 million, or 43 cents a share, from $23.5 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier, Westchester, Illinois-based Corn Products said today in a statement. Analysts expected 41 cents, based on five estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 17 percent to a record of $686.7 million.

The price of high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener used in soft drinks and food, is rising as demand grows, said Craig Ruffolo, a vice president for McKeany-Flavell Co., a food industry consultant in Oakland, California. Producers including Archer Daniels Midland Co. are using as much as 94 percent of their output capacity, well above a normal high point of 85 percent, Ruffolo said.

``Tight capacity-utilization rates have driven large price increases and trumped higher corn costs,'' David Driscoll, an analyst for Citigroup Global Markets in New York, said in a report to investors today. Driscoll maintained his buy rating on the company made in October.

Corn Products forecast a profit gain this year of 13 percent to 23 percent to between $1.84 and $2.01 a share. The company, in its statement, cited higher prices, increased demand in North America, South America, Pakistan, Thailand and China, and hedging of corn costs.

Shares Rise

Shares of Corn Products rose $1.25, or 3.8 percent, to $34.08 at 4:22 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since Nov. 30.

Corn Products has jumped 37 percent in the past year, reaching a record $37.49 on Dec. 6, less than two weeks before Mexico eliminated a 20 percent tax on corn sweetener used in soft drinks. The tax, enacted in 2002, was ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization in March 2006.

``Mexico will be the wild card for high-fructose corn syrup producers,'' Ruffolo said.

Sales in 2006 rose 11 percent to a record $2.62 billion, the company said. Net income for the year rose 38 percent to $124 million, or $1.63 a share, from $90 million, or $1.19, in 2005. The results topped the company's October forecast of $1.58 to $1.62, and the $1.59 estimate by six analysts in the Bloomberg survey.

Higher Prices

``Our U.S. and Canadian businesses have again achieved significantly higher contract prices in 2007,'' Chief Executive Officer Sam Scott said in the statement. ``Our firm-price and fee-based book of business in both the U.S. and Canada is appropriately hedged.''

Decatur, Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland is the biggest producer of high-fructose corn syrup, Ruffolo said. Cargill Inc., based in Wayzata, Minnesota, is the second-largest producer, followed by London-based Tate & Lyle Plc and Corn Products, he said.

Corn Products was spun off by Bestfoods in December 1997. Bestfoods was acquired in 2000 by Rotterdam-based Unilever NV, the world's second-biggest food and detergent maker.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: January 30, 2007 16:25 EST

 
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Autor (Datum des Eintrages): ambodenstaendig  (31.01.07 14:27:26)
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