Monsanto projects $6.3 billion profit in fiscal 2010

Monsanto Company has projected its gross profit to reach $6.1 billion to $6.3 billion in 2010, with seeds and traits gross profit crossing the $5 billion mark for the first time, with a projected range of $5.1 billion to $5.2 billion.

Gross profit from Roundup and other glyphosate-based products is expected in the range of $650 million to $750 million in 2010.

Monsanto expects its full-year 2009 ongoing earnings per share (EPS) to be at the low end of its previously announced range of $4.40 to $4.50, the company's chief financial officer Carl Casale said today in an update of key drivers.

Monsanto has projected gross profit for Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides to be lower than anticipated, offset by an expected slightly higher seeds and genomics gross profit, incremental selling, general and administrative savings, and a lower tax rate

Monsanto announced an ongoing EPS in the range of $3.10 to $3.30 for fiscal year 2010, in prepared remarks by Casale at the UBS fourth Annual Best of Americas Conference in London.

Casale said the company is committed to more than double gross profit in fiscal year 2012 over its fiscal year 2007 base, with seeds and genomics making up 85 per cent of the total gross profit mix by that time. The company expects to achieve these results by making its farmer customers around the world more profitable, he said.