Agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd on Thursday admitted the historic U.S. drought had tripped up its well-connected risk management team and also said its chief executive will step down.
The disclosures came as Bunge, one of the world’s top agricultural trading houses, reported it swung to an unexpected loss in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Excluding one-time charges, the resulting profit was still well below a year ago and average Wall Street forecast.
The company still recorded a record profit of more than $1 billion for its agribusiness sector for the year.
Soren Schroder, CEO of Bunge North America, will replace Alberto Weisser.