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Text: Our Chief Financial Officer, Ray Young, will review financial highlights and corporate results as well as the drivers of our performance.
Adjusted segment operating profit was $1.15 billion, 12% higher than the fourth quarter of 2019.
For the full year, we delivered record adjusted earnings per share of $3.59, $3.4 billion in adjusted segment operating profit, 12% higher than 2019, four straight quarters of year-over-year segment operating profit growth, and trailing four-quarter adjusted ROIC of 7.7%, almost 200 basis points above our weighted cost of capital.
We maintain our strong balance sheet and generating strong cash flows.
The team managed a wide variety of risks superbly and we achieved our strategic initiatives, exceeding our $500 million to $600 million guidance and driving our ability to deliver a steady, sustainable earnings growth.
I'll highlight for you some of our many achievements in 2020.
In our Optimize pillar, around the globe, amid lockdowns, rapidly shifting demand patterns and extreme weather events, our colleagues fulfilled our purpose by adapting and innovating to keep our work environment safe from COVID-19, maintaining our operations to support the global food value chain, and delivering for our customers to provide nutrition around the world.
Beyond that, for the year, our Ag Services and Oilseeds team delivered more than $300 million in capital reduction initiatives.
And we are focusing on new ways to enhance the return structure of that business, from digital technologies like our Grainbridge joint venture to differentiated products and services that add share value for growers, customers, and ADM.
In our Drive pillar, our new organizational structures and business processes, like our centers of excellence and our 1ADM business transformation projects, are helping drive better decision-making and operational excellence.
We continued our work to support our planet and its natural resources.
We achieved our 15x20 environmental goals ahead of schedule and launched Strive 35, an even more ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water and waste by 2035.
And we are partnering with farmers in their efforts to pull better outcomes, supported by the 6.5 million acres we had in sustainable farming programs over recent years.
In our Growth pillar, our Nutrition team exceeded our Neovia synergy targets and delivered them ahead of schedule.
We expanded our plant-based protein capabilities, including the launch of our PlantPlus Foods joint venture.
And amid an incredibly dynamic demand environment, we utilized new innovative technologies and continued launching new products to ensure we were meeting our customers' needs.
Our Carbohydrate Solutions colleagues moved quickly to meet changing customer needs for retail flour, industrial starches for cardboard and USP grade alcohol for hand sanitizer.
And the ADM team showed its innovative spirit by partnering and supporting companies that are making food out of air, spider silk out of corn and animal feed out of insects.
Finally, I'm proud to say we surpassed by about 10% our stretch goal of $1.3 billion in readiness runway benefits by the end of the year.
Readiness is driving our strategic initiatives, enabling us to be more efficient and powering our growth.
Perhaps, most importantly, today, we can say that readiness is truly embedded in our culture.
It's how we work.
This dividend will be our 357th consecutive quarterly payment, an uninterrupted record of 89 years.
It's been a remarkable year with achievements and results that truly demonstrate the strategic work we've been doing over the years to optimize, drive and grow.
Even more important is how we are building for the future.
We've created and are now strengthening the strategic foundation to deliver steady, sustained earnings growth for years to come.
I'll be talking about that shortly.
As Juan mentioned, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter was $1.21, down from $1.42 in the prior-year quarter.
As a reminder, the fourth quarter of last year was positively impacted by the recognition of about $0.61 per share for the retroactive biodiesel tax credits.
Absent this, earnings would have grown by about 49%.
Our trailing four-quarter average adjusted ROIC was 7.7%, almost 200 basis points higher than our 2020 annual WACC.
And our trailing four-quarter adjusted EBITDA was about $3.7 billion.
The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2020 was approximately 8% compared to a benefit of 1% in the prior year.
The calendar year 2020 effective tax rate was approximately 5%, down from the approximately 13% in 2019.
The decrease in the effective tax rate for the calendar year was due primarily to changes in the geographic mix of earnings and the impact of US tax credits, mainly the railroad tax credits, which have an offsetting expense in the cost of products sold.
Absent the effect of earnings per share adjusting items, the effective tax rate for the fourth quarter was approximately 11% and for the calendar year 2020 was approximately 9%.
Looking ahead, we're expecting full-year 2021 effective tax rate to be in the range of 14% to 16%.
We generate about $3.1 billion of cash from operations before working capital for the year, significantly higher than 2019.
Return of capital for the year was $942 million, including more than $800 million from dividends.
We finished the quarter with a net debt to total capital ratio of about 32%, up from the 29% a year ago due to higher working capital needs due to rising commodity prices.
Capital spending for the year was about $820 million, in line with our guidance and well below our depreciation and amortization rate of about $1 billion.
For 2021, we expect capital spending to be in the range of $900 million to $1 billion.
Other business results were substantially lower than the prior-year quarter.
ADM Investor Services earnings were impacted by drastically lower short-term interest rates.
Captive insurance results were negatively impacted by $15 million more in net intracompany settlements compared to the prior-year quarter.
For 2021, we expect other business results to be in line with 2020.
In the corporate lines, unallocated corporate costs of $278 million were higher year-over-year due primarily to increased variable performance-related compensation expense accruals, increased IT and project-related expenses and centralization of certain costs, including from Neovia.
Other charges decreased due to lower railroad maintenance expenses, partially offset by the absence of prior-year investment gains.
For 2021, corporate unallocated should be overall similar to 2020.
Net interest expense for the quarter was lower than the last year due to lower short-term interest rates and liability management actions taken in 2020.
For 2021, we expect net interest expense for the calendar year to be similar to or slightly lower than 2020.
The Ag Services and Oilseeds team capped off an outstanding year, with record adjusted operating profit in the fourth quarter.
Ag Services results were significantly higher year-over-year.
In North America, the team executed extremely well, capitalizing on strong global demand, particularly from China, to deliver higher export volumes and margins.
South American origination was lower year-over-year after significantly accelerated farmer selling in the first half of 2020.
Global trade continued to do a great job, contributing to higher results by utilizing its global reach and managing risk well to meet customer demand.
Approximately $80 million of prior timing effects reversed in the quarter as expected.
Crushing also delivered substantially higher results versus the prior-year period.
The business did a great job to capture higher margins in a continued environment of tight soybean supply and strong global demand for both meal and vegetable oils.
There was approximately $125 million in net negative timing in the quarter, driven by basis impacts and improved soft seed margins.
Refined products and other results were higher year-over-year, absent the recognition of the retroactive biodiesel tax credit in the fourth quarter of last year, with good results driven primarily by solid South American margins.
Wilmar's strong performance drove our equity earnings higher versus the prior year despite our slightly lower ownership stake.
For the full year, Ag Services and Oilseeds delivered exceptional results of $2.1 billion, 9% higher than 2019.
Its team achieved multiple records, including an all-time high global crush volumes.
In addition, we're proud of the teams that brought our reserve export facility back online safely and ahead of schedule despite dealing with multiple severe weather events this year.
Looking ahead, we expect the first quarter of 2021 results for Ag Services and Oilseeds to be significantly higher than the prior year first quarter, driven by extremely strong North American export demand and continued healthy crush margins.
The Carbohydrate Solutions team again delivered substantially higher year-over-year results despite the impacts of lockdowns in key market segments.
The starches and sweeteners subsegment achieved significantly higher results, driven by lower net corn costs and intercompany insurance settlements.
Earnings were partially offset by low results from corn oil and wet mill ethanol margins.
Vantage Corn Processors results were also better versus the prior year, though they continue to reflect a challenging ethanol industry environment.
The team delivered higher year-over-year margins as they met increased demand for USP grade alcohol, partially offset by fixed costs from the two temporarily idled dry mills.
Considering the impact of lockdowns in both driving miles and the food service sector, we're extremely proud of our Carbohydrate Solutions team for delivering full-year results of $717 million, 11% higher than 2019.
The team achieved record high operating profits from starches in the year.
They acted decisively by temporary idling production at our 2 VCP dry mill plans, helping address industry supply and demand balances.
And the wheat milling business' modernization and optimization plan, including a new state-of-the-art mill in Mendota, Illinois helped power a significant improvement over full-year 2019 for that business.
Looking ahead, we expect Carbohydrate Solutions results in the first quarter to be significantly higher than last year's first quarter, which was negatively impacted by corn oil mark-to-market impacts, but below the fourth quarter 2020 levels due to the challenged industry ethanol margins.
The Nutrition team delivered 24% year-over-year growth in the quarter.
In human nutrition, flavors delivered a strong quarter, driven by good sales and product mix in North America and EMEAI.
Continued strength in plant proteins drove higher results in specialty ingredients.
Health and wellness delivered higher sales in probiotics and natural health and nutrition.
Prior-year results included revenue and income related to the launch of the strategic Spiber relationship.
Human nutrition results for the quarter also included an intercompany insurance settlement.
Animal nutrition results were significantly higher year-over-year, driven by strong performances in Asia and EMEAI and improvements in amino acid results, partially offset by currency effects in Latin America.
We're continuing to make improvements in our amino acid business, including our announcement last month that we're discontinuing dry lysine production and transitioning to our liquid and encapsulated products in the first half of this year.
For the full year, Nutrition results were $574 million, 37% higher than 2019.
The Nutrition team grew revenue 5% on a constant currency basis and continued to expand EBITDA margins.
We exceeded our Neovia synergy targets and delivered them ahead of schedule.
We are truly seeing the benefits of our investments in Nutrition.
Looking ahead, we expect Nutrition to solidly grow operating profits in 2021 calendar year, but the first quarter should be similar to the prior-year period due to the timing of certain expenses over the year, including investments in projects to drive organic growth.
I'd like to congratulate the team once more on delivering great results in 2020.
I am proud of what we achieved and I'm excited to see our work empowering us to reach even greater heights.
In 2020, Ag Services and Oilseeds capitalized on its unparalleled and flexible global footprint to meet the strong demand.
In 2021, we expect Ag Services and Oilseeds' strong execution, diverse and flexible crush capabilities, including an extensive soft seed footprint, and important strategic work to continue to drive results.
In addition, we expect the global demand environment for Ag Services and Oilseeds to remain strong.
China should continue to be a significant buyer.
We see continued strong global growth in mill demand and we expect increased demand for vegetable oil due to recovery in cooking oils for foodservice and growth in demand for biofuels, including renewable green diesel.
That is why we are confident in another outstanding performance from Ag Services and Oilseeds in 2021.
Carbohydrate Solutions is showing how we have embedded great execution into our operational structure and culture.
The team is doing a great job strengthening their business by optimizing their plants and product mix.
And their ability to adjust production in 2020 to quickly meet changes in demand showed how those strategic efforts are paying off.
Now they are well positioned to use those same tools as the effect of lockdowns on the foodservice and transportation fuel sectors dissipates throughout 2021.
We expect solid profit growth for the year for Carbohydrate Solutions.
Nutrition continued to harvest investments, leading consumer growth trend areas and partnered with customers to bring innovative new products and solutions to market in 2020.
Based on our current organic growth plans, we expect the Nutrition team to deliver solid revenue expansion and enter a period of an average 15% per annum operating profit growth, consistent with our strategic plan.
Across ADM, we are fulfilling our purpose and building on a foundation for steady, sustainable earnings growth.
We are growing and leading in key trend areas, including food security, health and wellness and sustainability.
Our continued advancements of readiness is benefiting the entire enterprise, and we are making investments in exciting growth innovation platforms, which we'll be talking more about in the future.
In 2021, we will remain focused on the drivers under our control, adding incremental returns as we focus on organic growth, advancing operational excellence initiatives to maximize returns from every business and every asset, and continuing to generate benefits from readiness.
With the strong execution of these strategic initiatives and improving market conditions as the year progresses, we expect to build on a record 2020 with a strong growth in segment operating profit and another record year of earnings per share in 2021.

user
compname reports fourth quarter earnings of $1.22 per share, $1.21 per share on an adjusted basis, affirms earnings growth expectation for 2021.
q4 adjusted earnings per share $1.21 excluding items.
expect growth in operating profit and earnings per share in 2021.
expect nutrition team to deliver solid revenue expansion and profit growth in 2021.
qtrly ag services & oilseeds achieved substantially higher results year over year.
qtrly carbohydrate solutions results were higher than q4 of 2019.
expect strong growth in segment operating profit in 2021.
carbohydrate solutions business is well positioned to generate solid profit growth in 2021.

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