Bunge Global (NYSE:BG) reported first-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Summary
Bunge Global reported strong first quarter 2026 results, driven by higher soybean and softseed processing and refining performance, leading to an increase in full-year EPS guidance to $9-$9.50 from $7.50-$8.
The company highlighted strategic steps taken to maintain supply chain continuity amid geopolitical tensions, with a focus on biofuels as a growth area, supported by favorable policy decisions.
Operational highlights included strong performance in South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil, and robust results in North America, despite challenges in grain merchandising due to higher logistics and energy costs.
Bunge Global’s expanded footprint, following the integration of Itera, has enhanced its ability to navigate complex environments, with synergies from this integration running ahead of plan.
Management emphasized the company’s resilience and adaptability in a dynamic market, with future growth supported by a diversified portfolio and strategic investments in areas like soy protein processing.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good day and welcome to The Bunge Global first quarter 2026 earnings release and conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question you may press star then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press Star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Hayden, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Mark Hayden (Investor Relations)
Great. Thank you Betsy and thank you all for joining us this morning for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Before we get started, I want to let you know that we have slides to accompany our discussion. These can be found at the Investor center on our website at bunge.com under Events and Presentations. Reconciliations of our non GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are posted on our website as well. I’d like to direct you to slide 2 and remind you that today’s presentation includes forward looking statements that reflect Bunge’s current view with respect to future events, financial performance and industry conditions. These forward looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Bunge has provided additional information in its reports on file with the SEC concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in this presentation and we encourage you to review these factors. On the call this morning are Greg Heckman, Bunge CEO, and John Kneppel, our CFO. I’ll now turn the call over to Greg.
Greg Heckman (Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you Mark and good morning everyone. I want to start by thanking our team for their hard work and adaptability in what has been a very dynamic start to the year. The first quarter of 2026 was one of the more rapidly changing operating environments we’ve seen in recent years and the team executed with the discipline and speed that defines this organization and delivered strong results. Even since our Investor Day last month, the world has changed considerably. The Middle East conflict which was just emerging when we gathered in March, has continued to evolve. In addition to the very real impacts to those involved, it has meaningfully disrupted global trade flows, logistics, costs and supply chains. In response, we are taking prudent operational steps to support the continuity of supply for our customers, including working with relevant regulators, policymakers and partners to preserve essential commodity flows and manage risk. These actions focus on maintaining flexibility in shipping arrangements and leveraging our global capabilities and regional capability to continue serving customers reliably in the US A bright spot in agriculture right now is biofuels. With everything going on in the world at the moment, having more biofuels in the supply is good for everyone. We need policy that supports the sector, and that’s exactly what the EPA did with the recent Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) decision. We commend the agency for setting a volume that supports the investments made by fuel producers, oilseed processors and farmers in supplying biofuels to the market. Globally, there are many variables still at play, not the least of which is the uncertain duration of the Middle East conflict and the impact that will have on everything from farmer inputs, including fertilizer to fuel prices, and what that might mean for the mix of crops farmers plant in the next growing season. What we can say with confidence is that Bunge Global’s business is designed for complexity and change. Our combination of integrated global platform, disciplined risk management and operational excellence allows us to perform through the cycle and this quarter is clearly evidence of that. Looking at our operating results, the first quarter exceeded our expectations. The higher results were primarily driven by our soybean and softseed processing and refining segments, reflecting strong execution in a dynamic environment and improved market conditions. To drill down a little deeper, our results underscore the advantages of our larger platform and reach. While grain merchandising performance was impacted by distribution related factors including higher logistics and energy costs, those same conditions drove higher demand for renewable feedstocks. This in turn benefited our soy and softseed value chains. Turning to our outlook based on what we can see today, including the strength of Q1 and the forward curves, as we look at the balance of the year, we are increasing our full year adjusted EPS guidance range to $9 to $9.50 and that’s up from the $7.50 to $8 we provided on our fourth quarter call. While the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environments remain uncertain, our balanced footprint and diversified value chains give us the tools to adapt. The long term fundamentals driving demand for our products and services remain firmly in place and we’re well positioned to execute in any environment. With that, I’ll turn it over to John for a deeper look at our financials and outlook.
John Kneppel (Chief Financial Officer)
Thanks Greg and good morning everyone. Let’s turn to the earnings Highlights on Slide 5. Our reported first quarter earnings per share was $0.35 compared to $1.48 in the first quarter of 2025. Our reported results include an unfavorable mark to market timing difference of $1.28 per share and an unfavorable impact of $0.20 related to Vitera transaction and integration costs adjusted EPS was $1.83 in the first quarter versus $1.81 in the prior year. Adjusted segment Earnings before interest and taxes OR EBIT was $661 million in the quarter versus $406 million last year. In the soybean processing and refining segment, higher results were primarily driven by South America, reflecting stronger processing performance in Argentina and Brazil. North America also delivered higher results across both processing and refining in the destination value chain. Higher origination in Brazil was more than offset by lower processing results in Europe and Asia. Results in global Oil’s merchandising activities also increased reflecting strong execution. Higher process volumes were largely attributed to the combined company’s expanded production capacity in Argentina. Process volumes were also higher in North America and Brazil. Higher merchandise volumes reflected the combined company’s expanded soybean origination footprint. In the softseed processing and refining segment, results were higher across all regions. In Argentina, results increased in both processing and refining. In North America, higher processing results more than offset slightly lower refining results. In Europe, higher processing and biodiesel results more than offset lower refining results. Origination results in Canada and Australia increased reflecting our expanded footprint in large crops. Results from Global Oil’s merchandising activities also increased reflecting strong execution. Higher softseed process volumes primarily reflect the combined company’s increased production capacity in Argentina, Canada and Europe and higher merchandise volumes were driven by the company’s expanded softseeds origination footprint for the tropical oils and specialty ingredients segment. Higher results in Asia, Europe and Global oils merchandising activities were partially offset by lower results in North America. In the grain merchandising and milling segment, higher results in wheat milling, global cotton and commercial services were more than offset by lower results in ocean freight which was impacted by the significant spike in bunker fuel costs. Results in global grains merchandising were in line with the last year. Higher volumes primarily reflected the company’s expanded grain handling footprint and capabilities along with large global grain crops. Prior results included corn milling which was divested in 2025. The increase in corporate expenses was primarily driven by the addition of Viterra. The year over year comparison was also impacted by the timing of performance based compensation and a $15 million cash benefit received in 2025 related to a prior joint venture. Other results were in line with the prior year. Net interest expense of $136 million was up in the quarter compared to last year reflecting our expanded footprint in merchandising activities with the addition of Viterra partially offset by lower average net interest rates. Let’s turn to slide 6 where you can see our adjusted EPS and EBIT trends over the past four years along with the trailing 12 months. With the favorable biofuel environment, synergy capture and ramp up of inflight projects, the earnings trend is expected to improve Slide 7 details our capital allocation for the first quarter we generated $530 million of adjusted funds from operations. After allocating $95 million to sustaining CapEx, which includes maintenance, environmental health and safety, we had $435 million of discretionary cash flow available. We paid $136 million in dividends, invested approximately $240 million in growth and productivity related CapEx, and invested $105 million to acquire IFFs, soy protein concentrate and processing businesses. This results in a net use of $47 million. Moving to Slide 8, the quarter end readily marketable inventories or RMI exceeded net debt by approximately $400 million. Our adjusted leverage ratio, which reflects our adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA, was 1.6 times at the end of the first quarter versus 1.9 times at the end of 2025. Slide 9 highlights our liquidity position which remains strong. At the end of the first quarter we had committed credit facilities approximately $9.7 billion, all of which were unused and available. We also had essentially all of our $3 billion commercial paper program unutilized, providing ample liquidity to manage the ongoing capital needs of our larger combined company. Please turn to Slide 10 for the trailing twelve months, adjusted ROIC was 8% and ROIC was 6.7%. Adjusting for construction in progress in our large multi year projects and excess cash on our balance sheet, our adjusted ROIC would increase to 9% and ROIC to 7.2%. Moving to Slide 11 for the trailing 12 months, we produced discretionary cash flow of approximately $1.35 billion and a cash return on equity of 9.1% compared to our cost of equity of 7.2%. Please turn to Slide 12 and our 2026 outlook. Taking into account Q1 results, the current margin and macro environment of forward curves, we now Expect full year 2026 adjusted EPS in the range of $9 to $9.50, which is up from our previous range of $7.50 to $8. As Greg mentioned in his remarks, the environment remains complex. Forward curves in certain regions have reacted, but significant uncertainty remains, particularly in the second half of the year. For the full year, compared to our previous outlook, soybean and softseed processing and refining segment results are forecasted to be higher tropical oils and specialty ingredients and grain merchandising and milling segment results are expected to be lower and corporate and other results are expected to be in line. Additionally, we now expect the following for 2026 an adjusted annual effective tax rate in the range of 22 to 26%, which is down slightly from our previous expectation of 23 to 27% net interest expense in the range of 620 to $660 million, which is up from a previous range of 575 to 625 million, primarily due to higher short term debt levels, supporting an expected increase in working capital, capital expenditures in the range of 1.5 to $1.7 billion and depreciation and amortization of approximately $975 million. With that, I’ll turn things back over to Greg for some closing comments. Thanks John.
Greg Heckman (Chief Executive Officer)
So before we turn to Q and A, I just wanted to offer a few thoughts. The themes we laid out at Investor Day have not changed and this quarter reinforces them. Bunge today is stronger, more agile and better positioned than at any point in our history. We transformed our portfolio and strengthened our operating model with the integration of Viterra. We now have an unmatched global …
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