Archer Daniels Midland Conference Call Highlights

reported its third quarter earnings on Monday. Shares of the company are up 4 percent. Below are the key highlights from its conference call. • We reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.81 and adjusted segment operating profit of US$914 million. • Our net earnings were $747 million or a $1.14 per share. • Segment operating profit was $1.07 billion. • The team delivered very strong results in the third quarter and made significant progress improving earnings and returns. • Corn processing managed their product mix to serve good demand and optimize margins. • Continued improvement in international merchandising results supported the ongoing recovery of the Ag Services. • And oil seed processing again delivered solid results overall, benefiting from good demand and its diverse footprint and product portfolio. • We also continue to advance our portfolio management. • Since the beginning of the third quarter, we signed a deal to sell our global chocolate business. • We've reached an agreement to acquire Specialty Commodities Incorporated, and we completed our acquisition of WILD Flavors. • We completed our previously announced buyback of 18 million shares and that is ahead of our year-end target. • We expect to repurchase up to 10 million more shares by the end of 2014. • Adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.81 per share compared to $0.47 last year. • Excluding specified items and also excluding net timing effects, adjusted segment operating profit was $914 million, up $282 million or nearly 45% from last year. • The effective tax rate for the third quarter was 28%. • Working capital changes were a source of $2.5 dollars so far this year compared to a source of $3.4 billion last year. • We generated just over $1.9 billion from operations, before working capital changes in the first nine months of 2014, compared to $1.4 billion last year. • In February, our $1.15 billion convertible debt matured and we paid down this debt contributing to the overall debt reduction so far this year. • In the first nine months of this year we spent about $700 million to repurchase about 16 million shares and we paid out $470 million in common dividends. • Cash on hand was approximately $4.9 billion, up $1.4 billion from last year. • Our operating working capital of $8.2 billion was down $2.2 billion from year ago period. • This decrease was comprised of about a $1 billion related to lower inventory prices and about a $0.2 billion related to lower inventory quantities. • Total debt was about $5.5 billion, resulting a net debt balance that is debt less cash of $0.7 billion. • Down significantly from the 2013 net debt level of $3.4 billion. • Our shareholders' equity of $23.3 billion is a $0.7 billion higher than the level last year. • We had $6.9 billion available global credit capacity at the end of September. • On a year-over-year basis, significant improvements in corn and Ag services, drove an overall increase of 45%. • In the area of strengthening the business, we remain on track to achieve our total of $400 million in ongoing cost savings by end of the year. • In the area of managing our portfolio, we completed the acquisition of WILD Flavors, adding to our offering one of the world's leading suppliers of natural ingredients to the food and beverage industries. • Now, moving on to our efforts to improve returns by growing the business. • Construction continues in our sweetener and fiber plants in Tianjin, China.