Archer Daniels Midland Company 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Good morning, and welcome to the ADM second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode to prevent background noise. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Kate Walsh, Director, Investor Relations for ADM. Ms. Walsh, you may begin.

Welcome to the second quarter of 2026 earnings conference call for ADM. Our prepared remarks today will be led by Juan Luciano, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, and Monish Patolawala, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We have prepared presentation slides to supplement our remarks on the call today, which are posted to the investor relations section of the ADM website and through the link to our webcast. Some of our comments and materials may constitute forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance, and financial results. These statements and materials are based on many assumptions and factors that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.

ADM has provided additional information in its reports on file with the SEC concerning assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those presented in these materials. Unless otherwise required by law, ADM assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements due to new information or future events. During today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP or adjusted financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are available in our earnings press release and presentation slides, which can be found in the investor relations section of the ADM website. I will now turn the call over to Juan.

Thank you, Kate. Hello, and welcome to all who have joined the call. Please turn to slide four, where we have outlined this quarter's performance highlights. Today, ADM reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.84 and total segment operating profit of $1.5 billion for the second quarter of 2026. Our trailing four quarter adjusted ROIC was 7.8%, and cash flow from operations before working capital changes was $1.8 billion for the first half of 2026. Total segment operating profit increased significantly compared to the prior year quarter, driven by several positive factors, including robust commercial and operational execution by our team, a constructive biofuels margin environment, elevated global energy prices, and momentum in Nutrition led by flavors and progress in specialty ingredients.

Based on our first half performance and a constructive outlook for the second half, we are again raising our full year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance, now to a range of $5.15-$5.60, up from the previous guidance range of $4.15-$4.70. That same discipline extends to how we allocate capital and return value to our shareholders. During the second quarter, we paid our 378th consecutive quarterly dividend. We remain steadfast in our commitment to creating and returning value to our stakeholders. Please turn to slide five. The second quarter of this year was an important one for us. The team once again delivered while progressing our 2026 priorities. I'll run through a few highlights.

During the quarter, energy markets were supportive of North American biofuel margins following the finalization in March of the renewable volume obligations for 2026 and 2027. Additionally, global energy volatility was also supportive of biofuel, including crush margins. Our business executed well across our asset footprint amid this constructive backdrop, increasing global oilseed process volumes by close to 5% compared to the prior year period, driven by higher asset utilization. Our services also delivered strong results in the second quarter, driven by the team strategically leveraging ADM's global asset network in a complex operating environment to deliver value across the agricultural supply chain. South American operations also benefited from the grain export terminal in Barcarena, Brazil, returning to full operations along with increased soybean export, which were supported by higher farmer selling.

North American ethanol margins were robust in the second quarter as favorable economics incentivized higher domestic blend rates. Additionally, elevated global energy prices coupled with lower U.S. corn prices enabled U.S. ethanol to be price competitive globally, which provided a favorable U.S. industry-wide export backdrop. Our Nutrition business contributed to robust operating profit results this quarter, led by flavors and supported by progress at Decatur East, and benefits from our portfolio actions in animal nutrition. Flavor sales grew across every key region, with particular strength in EMEA. We delivered a record quarter for flavors in Asia Pacific. To summarize, in AS&O, our team executed well in a complex and volatile environment, strategically leveraging ADM's global asset footprint to drive margin and volume uplift in Ag Services, capture strong crush margins in a constructive biofuels environment, and deliver nearly 5% crush volume growth year-over-year.

In Carbohydrate Solutions, ethanol production rose in a strong margin environment. We sequestered 337,000 metric tons of carbon this quarter. In Nutrition, the team built on the momentum in the first quarter with continued improvement in both human nutrition and animal nutrition. The robust cash flow that our business generates funds our capital allocation and growth priorities. Our growth plan focuses on accretive, targeted organic investments across our platform where we see the most compelling opportunities, such as expanding domestic crushing and ethanol capacity at existing facilities. Given the strength of biofuel demand, we have identified four U.S. crush facilities for this first phase of expansion, which together are expected to deliver a meaningful increase in our North American capacity. Additionally, we're building out precision fermentation capabilities and expanding our natural colors footprint to capitalize on the shift toward cleaner labels and higher plant protein reformulations already underway.

Our growth plan is built upon the foundation of operating safely and responsibly. That commitment runs through everything we do. I'm proud that two of our North American facilities were recently recognized by Workplace Safety Awards and were recently inducted into Illinois Manufacturers' Association's Hall of Fame. That same commitment to our people shapes how we think about the world around us. While the commercial environment has supported our results, I will be remiss not to acknowledge the conflict in the Middle East and the escalation of conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Our thoughts are with all those affected. We have operations in Ukraine. The safety and security of our employees in the region remain our primary concern.

While we expect any disruption to our Ukrainian operation to have limited financial impact to ADM, the region is an important contributor to global food security. Further disruption to grain export could weigh on global grain stocks and increase food prices. As for what this means for our business, navigating global disruptions is not new to ADM. We will remain focused on executing on our 2026 priorities and delivering on our long-term plan. Please turn to slide six to discuss our long-term growth plans. We are making purposeful investments now in the platform set to drive the next phase of our growth. We have outlined before the next wave of value creations run through five distinct pathways that include a mix of near-term drivers already showing up in our results and longer-term opportunities that we will keep scaling.

Importantly, each sits in a market we know well, tied to customers' needs we understand. With the infrastructure largely in place to deliver, I'll take a few moments now to highlight our advanced Nutrition platform in more detail, where we are developing innovative solutions as customers shift from artificial to natural ingredients, particularly in North America, where we believe we're well-positioned to capitalize on this structural change in the food we eat. One of the more exciting near-term opportunities is the transition from artificial to natural colors. We believe this represents a total addressable U.S. market of roughly $1 billion in revenue. Our target is to capture $80 million-$100 million of operating profit for ADM over time as we partner with our customers to launch new solutions. We have a well-established global colors business that helped bring similar solutions to our European customers over a decade ago.

Our experienced team is well-suited to provide a full suite of solutions to our customers as they navigate the complexities with color, flavor, and functionality changes across products of various scales, from craft to industrial-scale production. Our natural colors pipeline has grown significantly year to date, with several notable customer wins. I highlight two contracts that we recently signed, both to convert artificial red, yellow, and orange shades to natural alternatives. One across a well-known packaged food line, the other in flavored beverages. These wins reflect the shift toward cleaner labels we believe ADM is well-positioned to capture. That will add durable, recurring sales as the product reach store shelves. Natural colors represent just one of several growth engines built into our business. Together with the organic projects we're executing today, they build an enduring growth pipeline that is expected to compound over the years ahead.

I want to close by recognizing the people who make all of this possible and to thank the ADM team for all their hard work and everything they do each day to strengthen our company. It is their commitment to executing on our immediate priorities while advancing our long-term strategy that is the foundation of our success in a shifting global landscape. With that, I will hand it to Monish to walk you through our second quarter financials and full-year outlook.

Thank you, Juan. I wish you all a very good morning. Please turn to slide seven. AS&O segment operating profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $867 million, up 129% compared to the prior quarter. Included in the second quarter results was around $100 million of net positive mark-to-market and timing impacts, led by a net positive impact in crushing, a modest net positive benefit attributable to Ag Services, partially offset by a net negative impact attributable to refined products and other of around $50 million. The Ag Services sub-segment in the current quarter generated operating profit of $293 million, representing an increase of 159% compared to the prior quarter. The increase was primarily as a result of strategically leveraging ADM's global asset network in a complex operating environment to deliver value across the agricultural supply chain.