By Karl Plume
(Reuters) -Agricultural commodities trader Bunge Global reported a smaller-than-expected decline in first-quarter profit on Wednesday as good oilseed processing results in Europe and Asia blunted the impact of weaker grain trading margins.
The world's largest oilseed processor reaffirmed its 2024 outlook for annual adjusted earnings of $9 per share, down from $13.66 last year as processing margins were expected to remain compressed in most regions.
Shares of Bunge fell 4.4% as the earnings guidance disappointed.
"Investors were hoping for an improved outlook," said Arun Sundaram, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research. "The ag market continues to normalize from the record high prices over the last few years, which is putting downward pressure on agribusinesses like Bunge."
Bunge and its trading and processing rivals Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill have seen profits drop from recent historic highs as global crop supplies have swelled and prices slumped.
Bunge's results come as the company is working to close a deal to acquire grain handler Viterra, a merger that would create an agribusiness powerhouse closer in size to Cargill and ADM but which has raised antitrust concerns.
Canada's Competition Bureau on Tuesday said in a nonbinding report that it found major competition concerns around the proposed acquisition.
Regulators in 13 jurisdictions - including the U.S., the European Union, Brazil and China - have not yet approved the deal, CEO Greg Heckman said. But he has not heard any concerns that "indicates any material risk to the economics of the deal" and still expects to close the transaction by midyear.
Bunge's agribusiness segment, its largest, posted lower adjusted earnings in the first quarter. Refined and specialty oils segment profit slipped, while milling unit earnings jumped.
The company posted an adjusted profit of $3.04 per share for the three months ended March 31, compared with analysts' estimates of $2.53 per share, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, additional reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Tasim Zahid, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy)
