May 9, 2008

The Andersons reports 15-percent decline in Q1 net earnings

The Andersons Inc. said that its net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 dropped by 15 percent at US$7.8 million from US$9.2 million last year.

Net sales were US$713 million up 75 percent from US$406.5 million during the first quarter of the previous year.

The company's Grain & Ethanol Group showed a first quarter operating income of US$2.2 million, a 78-percent decrease from its year earlier result of US$10.2 million.

Total first quarter revenue for the group was US$499 million, which included US$186 million in grain and ethanol sales.

In the first quarter of 2007, the group's total revenues were US$244 million, and included US$40 million of the ethanol joint venture fee only sales mentioned above.

The company said this group's prior year first quarter had US$4.1 million more in non-recurring development fees from ethanol plants.

The Andersons noted that the grain business suffered a significant basis loss during the quarter as the cash markets for corn, soy and wheat did not rise at the same pace as the futures market.

However, income from the company's ethanol joint ventures grew during the recent quarter.