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Text: Before we get started, I want to let you know that we have slides to accompany our discussion.
Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are posted on our website as well.
Turning to the agenda on Slide 3.
I'll start with some highlights of the third quarter, and how we're thinking about the remainder of the year before handing it over to John, who will go into more detail on our performance.
Let's start with an overview of the quarter turning to Slide 4.
Their ability to remain focused on execution, helped us deliver our eighth consecutive quarter of earnings growth.
In the second half of 2021, we've seen a shift in the challenges created by the COVID operating environment.
We've moved away from having to adjust to the fluctuations that came from lockdowns, like the change in demand from foodservice to food processors.
Instead, we're adapting to an environment that is driven by an uneven global recovery.
This dynamic demand is driving increases in commodity and energy prices, and creating many supply chain challenges.
Our team has remained agile and I'm proud of how we've navigated this market shift.
We also responded well to unforeseen disruptions like the great work our team did managing the impact from Hurricane Ida in North America.
We also continue to set high watermarks across a number of our key operating metrics.
We've done this all while continuing to prioritize the safety of our team, their families and communities, as COVID remains with us.
In addition to solid operational execution, our positioning and approach to risk management allowed us to capture opportunities quickly when the market conditions changed.
This was especially true as crush margins improved over the late-summer when oil seed prices dropped and oil values expanded due to tightening supply.
The strength of our global platform and footprint continue to provide benefits.
In the face of broad logistical disruptions, our integrated value chains and owned ports have helped us to continue supporting customers at both ends of the supply chain.
This quarter, and our results over the last 1.5 years have shown the power of our global network and operating model.
Looking ahead, we continue to see a dynamic set of factors and we're more confident than ever in our ability to react and manage well to capture market opportunities.
As part of our work to continue positioning Bunge for the structural shift we are seeing in the consumer demand for sustainable fuel, in September, we announced our proposed joint venture with Chevron.
As a key step, we will increase production of renewable feedstocks by nearly doubling the combined capacity of two soy crush facilities that will be contributed to the JV.
Chevron recognizes our expertise in oil seed processing and farmer relationships, as well as our commitment to sustainable agriculture, and we recognize Chevron's expertise in refining and distribution.
Partnering with a global leader in energy is a significant step forward in building the capability to make change at scale, to help reduce carbon in our own and our customers' value chains.
This partnership will establish a reliable supply from farmer to Chevron's downstream production and distribution to the infuel consumer.
It also allows us to better serve our farmer customers by accessing demand in the growing renewable fuel-sector.
It will also enable us to pursue new growth opportunities together in lower carbon intensity feedstocks as well as consider feedstock pre-treatment investments.
In addition to the Chevron JV transaction, we announced an agreement to sell our wheat mills in Mexico to Grupo Trimex.
As part of continuously looking for ways to improve our portfolio, we concluded the business was not in line with our long-term strategic goals, and we're pleased with the outcome of selling to a well-respected wheat miller.
We expect the sale to be completed in 2022.
Turning to our segment performance.
Results in Agribusiness were driven by strong execution and better than expected market environment.
In processing, we benefited from higher margins in soy and soft crush in the Northern Hemisphere.
Merchandising results were better than expected and very strong compared to prior year.
Results in Refined & Specialty Oils improved in all regions, with particular strength in North America, driven by strong demand from foodservice and renewable diesel.
We're also seeing continuous improvement in our innovation pipeline, which enabling us to launch exciting new products to the market.
I'd like to congratulate our team for their efforts to help customers with creative solutions.
This innovation capability as well as our skill at solving supply chain issues have helped create a step change in many long-term customer collaborations and commitments.
Our team is also making measurable progress, improving sustainability across our operations and investments.
Following the launch of the Bunge sustainable partnership in Brazil earlier this year, we've already improved the visibility into our indirect supply in high priority regions to approximately 50%, and that's exceeding our 2021 target of 35%.
And while we still have work to do, having this insight into our supply chain will help us meet our industry leading non-deforestation commitment.
And finally, regarding our non-core businesses.
I want to call out the role our sugar JV has had in our year-over-year improvement.
We're pleased that this business has been performing well in a challenging weather market.
Additionally, Bunge Ventures had a successful quarter as a result of the Benson Hill IPO.
And John will give you more details on the impact of that investment in the quarter.
We also repurchased $100 million in shares and our Board authorized a new $500 million repurchase program, demonstrating our confidence in the business.
This reflects our balanced approach to capital allocation, where the return of capital to shareholders is always evaluated along with other investment opportunities.
And before handing the call over to John, I wanted to note, we've increased our outlook for 2021, reflecting our strong third quarter results and continued favorable market trends.
For the full year, we now expect to deliver adjusted earnings per share of, at least, $11.50, and we expect the strong momentum to carry over into 2022.
Let's turn to the earnings highlights on Slide 5.
Our reported third quarter earnings per share was $4.28 compared to $1.84 in the third quarter of 2020.
Our reported results included a negative mark-to-market timing difference of $0.22 per share and a $0.78 per share gain on the sale of our U.S. interior grain elevators, which closed back in early July.
Adjusted earnings per share was $3.72 in the third quarter versus $2.47 in the prior year.
Adjusted core segment earnings before interest and taxes or EBIT were $698 million in the quarter versus $580 million last year, reflecting higher results in Agribusiness and Refined & Specialty Oils.
In processing, high results in North America, European softseeds, and our Asian-European destination soy value chains, all benefited from improved margins.
These were partially offset by lower results in South America, where margins were down from a strong prior-year.
In merchandising, improved performance was primarily driven by higher results in ocean freight, due to strong execution and our global vegetable oil value chain, which benefited from increased margins.
In Refined & Specialty Oils, the strong performance in the quarter was primarily driven by higher margins and volumes in North American refining, which continued to benefit from the recovery in foodservice and increased demand from the renewable diesel sector.
Higher margins in Europe, largely driven by favorable product mix, also contributed to the improved performance.
Results in South America and Asia were slightly higher than last year.
In milling, lower results in the quarter were driven by Brazil where higher volume and lower unit costs were more than offset by lower margins.
Results in North America were comparable with last year.
The increase in corporate expenses during the quarter was primarily related to performance-based compensation accruals.
The gain in other was primarily related to our Bunge Venture's investment in Benson Hill, which went public during the quarter.
Improved results for our non-core sugar and bioenergy joint venture were primarily driven by higher prices and sales volumes of ethanol and sugar.
For the quarter, GAAP basis income tax expense was $92 million compared to $38 million for the prior year.
The increase in income tax expense was due to higher pre-tax income.
Net interest expense of $38 million was below last year, resulting from higher interest income related to the resolution of an historical value added tax matter.
Here you can see our continued positive earnings per share and EBIT trend, adjusted for notable items and timing differences over the past four fiscal years, along with the most recent trailing 12-month period.
This is an exceptional performance, and I echo Greg's appreciation of the amazing execution by our global team.
Slide 7 compares our year-to-date SG&A to the prior year.
We achieved underlying addressable SG&A savings of $25 million, of which approximately 75% was related to indirect cost.
Looking ahead, we are monitoring cost inflation globally and we will be working hard to offset this impact where we can, while still making the necessary investments in our people, processes and technology.
Moving to Slide 8.
For the most recent trailing 12-month period, our cash generation, excluding notable items and mark-to-market timing differences were strong with approximately $1.9 billion of adjusted funds from operations.
This cash flow generation was well in excess of our cash obligations over the past 12 months, allowing us to continue to strengthen our balance sheet.
Turning to Slide 9.
During the quarter, we received two credit rating upgrades.
Moody's raised us to Baa2 and Fitch upgraded us to BBB, both with stable outlooks.
This now puts us at our target rating of BBB, Baa2 with all three rating agencies.
The chart on this slide details our year-to-date capital allocation of adjusted funds from operations.
After allocating $137 million to sustaining capex, which includes maintenance, environmental health and safety, and $25 million to preferred dividends, we had approximately $1.1 billion of discretionary cash flow available.
Of this amount, we paid $215 million in common dividends, invested $102 million in growth and productivity capex and repurchased $100 million of common shares, leaving approximately $725 million of retained cash flow.
Our pace of capex spend this quarter was below our expectations due to supply chain related delays, which we don't see improving by year end.
As a result, we are reducing our 2021 capex forecast by about $100 million and we'll be rolling over these projects into next year.
In addition, we have a nice pipeline of growth and productivity investments that are under consideration which we will likely -- which will likely lead to a higher than baseline spend for the next couple of years.
We will provide more details on our outlook during our Q4 earnings call in February.
The $100 million of share repurchases in the quarter completed our $500 million authorization.
As Greg mentioned earlier, Bunge's Board has authorized a new $500 million program.
Earlier this year, we increased our quarterly common dividend by 5%.
In May of next year, we will again review our dividend with consideration for the recent increase in our earnings baseline from $5 per share to $7 per share, and the success in strengthening our balance sheet.
So as we have been demonstrating, we will continue to take a balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation.
As you can see on Slide 10, by quarter end, readily marketable inventories exceeded our net debt by approximately $1.1 billion, a significant change from a year ago.
For the trailing 12 months, adjusted ROIC was 19.4%, 12.8 percentage points over our RMI adjusted weighted average cost of capital at 6.6%.
ROIC was 13.7%, 7.7 percentage points over our weighted average cost of capital at 6% and well above our previously stated target of 9%.
The spread between these metrics reflects how we use RMI in our operations as a tool to generate incremental profit.
Moving to Slide 12.
For the trailing 12 months, we produced discretionary cash flow of approximately $1.6 billion and a cash flow yield of 21.6%.
The decline in cash flow yield from the prior year reflects a growth in book equity of the Company.
As Greg mentioned in his remarks, taking into account our strong third quarter results and favorable market trends, we've increased our full year adjusted earnings per share from $8.50 to $11.50.
Our outlook is based on the following expectations.
In Agribusiness, results were expected to be up from our previous outlook and now forecasted to be higher than last year.
In Refined & Specialty Oils, results are expected to be up from our previous outlook and well above last year.
We continue to expect results in milling to be generally in line with last year.
Excluding Bunge Ventures, corporate and other is expected to be lower than last year, driven by higher performance-based compensation, a portion of which was historically allocated to the segments.
Additionally, the Company now expects the following for 2020.
An adjusted annual effective tax rate in the range of 15% to 17%.
Net interest expense in the range of $200 million to $210 million.
Capital expenditures in the range of $350 million to $400 million, and depreciation and amortization of approximately $420 million.
In non-core, full year results in the Sugar and Bioenergy joint venture are now expected to be up considerably from the prior year.
With that, I'll turn things back over to Greg for some closing comments.
Before opening the call to Q&A, I want to offer a few closing thoughts.
As John and I noted, we expect a strong close to 2021, driven by Agribusiness and Refined & Specialty Oils.
Looking ahead, we expect favorable market conditions to continue and we're confident in our ability to capture the upside from opportunities while minimizing the downside.
Based on what we can see right now, we would expect earnings per share to be well above our baseline for the next couple of years, driven by higher than baseline assumptions for refined and specialty oils and soft seed crushing.
And we'll continue to deploy cash we generate to create value by investing in growth projects with strong returns and returning capital to shareholders.
In closing, we're very pleased with our team's strong performance and our revised outlook.
In today's environment, we're right where we need to be, a key participant in the global food and agricultural network.
We're excited about our role in the accelerating shift in demand for sustainable food, feed and fuel and the growth we have ahead of us.

user
compname reports q3 gaap earnings per share $4.28.
q3 gaap earnings per share $4.28.
sees fy adjusted earnings per share at least $11.50.
qtrly adjusted earnings per share $3.72.
qtrly agribusiness results driven by strong execution and better than expected market environment.
increasing full-year adjusted earnings per share outlook to at least $11.50 based on strong q3 results and favorable market trends.
bunge board authorized new $500 million program.
expect favorable market trends to continue.
are well-positioned to help our customers across supply chain address challenges in meeting increasing consumer demand.
in agribusiness, fy results are expected to be up from our previous outlook and now forecasted to be higher than last year.
in non-core, full-year results in sugar and bioenergy joint venture are now expected to be up significantly from prior year.
in refined and specialty oils, fy results are expected to be up from our previous outlook and well above last year.

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