WASHINGTON (AP) — Monsanto said Wednesday it will eliminate another
1,000 jobs as it expands a cost-cutting plan designed to deal with
falling sales of biotech-corn seeds and other financial headwinds.
The additional layoffs will bring the agriculture giant's total
planned cuts to 3,600 jobs over the next two years, or about 16 percent
of its global workforce. In October the company first announced the
restructuring plan, intended to streamline its sales, R&D and other
operations.
The St. Louis-based company says the restructuring will cost between
$1.1 billion and $1.2 billion to implement, up from previous estimates
of $850 million to $900 million. By the end of fiscal 2018, the company
expects the changes to generate annual savings of $500 million.
Its shares fell more than 2 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday.
Monsanto has struggled in recent quarters to deal with slumping corn
prices in the U.S., which have reduced demand for its best-selling
product: genetically-enhanced corn seeds. Farmers are shifting more
acres to other crops after surpluses of corn, wheat and others have
squashed commodity prices.
The job cuts came as Monsanto reported a net loss of $253 million, or
56 cents per share, for its first fiscal quarter. It cited foreign
currency pressures and falling seed sales. When adjusted for one-time
items, the loss was 11 cents per share.
That was better than forecasts for a loss of 24 cents per share,
according to the average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks
Investment Research.
The agriculture products company posted a 23 percent decline in
revenue to $2.22 billion in the period, short of Street forecasts. Three
analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.55 billion.
In the most recent quarter corn seed sales fell nearly 20 percent to
$745 million. Those results were partially offset by higher soybean
sales, which grew 10 percent to $438 million.
Monsanto's biotech seeds have genetically engineered traits, such as
protection against insects and disease, which help farmers increase
their crop yield, despite their higher prices. The company, which also
sells herbicide, has dominated the bioengineered-seed business for more
than a decade and controls an estimated 18 percent of the $44 billion
global seed market, according to Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold.
Monsanto has recently developed products specifically for emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil and parts of Asia.
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