CHS
 
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S. — Earnings at CHS Inc. for the first half of fiscal 2018 increased, driven in part by the cooperative’s higher margins at its refineries. For the first six-months ended Feb. 28, CHS posted net income of $346.7 million, up 55% from $223.7 million in the same period a year ago.

Consolidated revenues for the first half of fiscal 2018 totaled $14.9 billion, down from $15.4 billion in the first half of fiscal 2017. Pretax income was $185 million, up from $249.1 million in 2017.

Jay Debertin
Jay Debertin, president and CEO of CHS

“CHS made meaningful progress in the first half of fiscal year 2018 as we continue to position CHS for higher performance,” said Jay Debertin, president and chief executive officer of CHS. “The global environment for our businesses serving agriculture remains challenged and we continue to drive toward our priorities of better efficiency, strengthening relationships, and a more focused business portfolio.  We have more work to do and we are seeing improvement that will make us a stronger company.”

For the second quarter of fiscal 2018, CHS’s net income was $166.7 million, which compared with $14.6 million for the same period in fiscal 2017.

Revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 were $6.9 billion, down from $7.3 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

CHS said its second-quarter earnings were affected by decreased volumes and margins in its Ag segment and a significant tax benefit was recorded related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

The Ag segment, which includes domestic and global grain marketing and crop nutrients businesses, renewable fuels, local retail operations and processing and food ingredients, generated pretax income of $43.6 million, down from $99.9 million in the same period the previous year. The $56.3 million decrease was primarily the result of a decline in grain and oilseed volumes in the grain marketing and country operations businesses, and lower prices across the majority of the Ag sub-segments.

CHS’s Energy segment generated a pretax income of $122.1 million during the first half, which compared with $86.6 million during the same period last year. The co-op said the increase reflects improved market conditions in the company's refined fuels business, primarily driven by wider manufacturing margins in our refining operation.

The company’s Corporate and Other segment includes the company's wheat milling joint venture (Ardent Mills), its investment in Ventura Foods, LLC and its financing, hedging and insurance operations. It generated a pretax income of $9.1 million in the first half of 2018 compared with $30.2 million for the same period of 2017. CHS attributed the decrease to reduced interest revenue from the company’s financing business resulting from the sale of loans receivable and lower earnings from our investment in Ventura Foods.