The company reported a profit of $87.7 million or $1.12 a share, up from $36.9 million or 48¢ per share a year ago.
Third quarter diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose 133% to $1.12 compared to 48¢ last year. The third quarter of 2011 included 5¢ of business integration costs and 3¢ of restructuring charges. The third quarter of 2010 included 31¢ of acquisition costs and 2¢ of restructuring charges. Excluding these items, adjusted EPS rose 48% from 81¢ to $1.20 in the quarter.
"Corn Products delivered another very good quarter building on our strong first half 2011 performance," said Ilene Gordon, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are pleased with how well our businesses have navigated challenging macroeconomic conditions and have remained focused on successfully executing our plans. Our risk management approach has helped us weather volatile raw material markets and kept us on track to deliver our goals. In each of our regions, we have achieved significant though appropriate price increases to offset higher input costs.
"At the same time, the integration of National Starch continues on-plan and represents a shift in our product mix toward higher-value, more functional ingredients largely for the food industry. Having now owned National Starch for a full year, we continue to be enthusiastic about the combination of the two businesses.”
Net sales jumped 58% to $1.71 billion, or $1.63 billion after shipping and handling costs. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.09 a share on $1.57 billion in revenue.
