ST. LOUIS — Tariff timing gave Bunge Global SA a late lift in its fiscal 2025 first quarter, as the agribusiness company sustained softer earnings and sales but called results better than anticipated and largely reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

“First quarter exceeded our expectations, driven in part by some pull-forward of activity from Q2 into Q1,” Gregory Heckman, chief executive officer of St. Louis-based Bunge, told analysts in a May 7 conference call. “Later in the quarter, shifts in trade dynamics, including tariff and regulatory uncertainty, prompted some farmers and consumers to act ahead of potential changes.”

For the quarter ended March 31, net income fell 18% to $201 million, equal to $1.48 per share on the common stock, from $244 million, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier. Excluding the impact of acquisition and integration costs and mark-to-market adjustments, adjusted net earnings were $244 million, or $1.81 per share, versus $441 million, or $3.04 per share, a year ago. That topped Wall Street’s consensus estimate for adjusted earnings per share of $1.27.

Adjusted total segment EBIT dropped to $362 million from $676 million in the prior-year period. Overall net sales came in at $11.64 billion, down 13% from $13.42 billion in the fiscal 2024 quarter.

In the call, John Neppl, chief financial officer, said the pull-forward from the tariff-related timing shifts in demand and farmer activity in the first quarter altered the cadence of earnings in the first half but won’t affect the 40/60 first- and second-half earnings split that the company had projected for the full year.

“What we saw was really a flip between Q1 and Q2; instead of 40/60, it looks to be more 60/40,” Neppl said. “So we pulled earnings forward from Q2 and expect a little bit of softness in Q2 from our prior forecast. About half that overperformance in Q1 was pulled forward from Q2. We had some other things go well in Q1, but we’re seeing a little bit of softness in Q2. So we’re looking at maybe 62/38, if I wanted to put a really fine point on it, from Q1 to Q2, but the broader first half/second half is the same outlook as we had last quarter.”

Bunge is sticking to its forecast for adjusted EPS of $7.75 for fiscal 2025, which in the previous quarter the company had lowered from an earlier estimate of $8.71.

In the Agribusiness unit, full-year results are now expected to be slightly lower than previously projected and down from last year, primarily due to lower results in the Processing business unit, Bunge said. Fiscal 2025 results in the Refined and Specialty Oils unit are forecast to be similar to the company’s previous outlook and down year over year, fueled mainly by a more balanced supply and demand environment in North America. For the Milling unit, Bunge expects full-year results to be up from last year and similar to its prior outlook.

“Taking into account Q1 results, current margin and macro environment and forward curves, we continue to expect full-year 2025 adjusted EPS of approximately $7.75,” Neppl said. “This forecast excludes the impact of announced acquisitions and divestitures that are expected to close during the year.”

Bunge reported decreased net income and sales in the first quarter but said the results were better than expected.

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Bunge expects to soon finalize its $18 billion deal to acquire Rotterdam, The Netherlands-based Viterra, owned by Switzerland-based commodity trading giant Glencore PLC. The transaction was announced back in mid-June 2023.

“We continue to believe in the strategic merits of our planned combination with Viterra and expect to close the transaction in the near term,” Heckman said. “While the timing of regulatory approvals has not been what we anticipated, we’ve engaged in constructive conversations with the relevant authorities (and are) prepared to close in very short order once received.”

More recently, Bunge agreed to sell its North American dry corn milling assets to US flour miller Grain Craft and divest its European margarines and spreads business to Belgian food group Vandemoortele.

“We also closed our previously announced partnership with Repsol and announced a key milestone with the incorporation of intermediate novel crops in the production of renewable fuels in Europe,” Heckman said.

In late April, Bunge exited a deal to buy South Korean CJ Cheiljedang Corp.’s equity stake in Brazilian soy crusher CJ Selecta, which was announced in October 2023.

“We recently chose to execute our rights to terminate the definitive share purchase agreement with CJ Selecta pursuant to its terms,” Heckman said. “However, soy protein concentrate for feed remains an attractive market with promising growth prospects and nicely complements our soy origination crushing capabilities in Brazil. At the same time, we’ve made great progress in other key areas, further sharpening our portfolio, strengthening our business and positioning Bunge for the future.”

In Bunge’s Agribusiness unit, first-quarter adjusted segment EBIT totaled $268 million, down 45% from $487 million a year ago. Net sales fell 16% to $8.16 billion from $9.74 billion as volumes declined 9.5% to 18,277,000 tonnes from 20,192,000 tonnes.

Adjusted segment EBIT for Refined and Specialty Oils was $123 million in the quarter, down 40% year over year from $204 million. The division’s net sales totaled $3.09 billion, down 4.5% from $3.24 billion. Volumes dipped 3% to 2,130,000 tonnes from 2,195,000 tonnes.

The Milling unit saw adjusted segment EBIT decrease 46% to $15 million in the first quarter from $28 million a year earlier. Net sales were down about 1.5% to $375 million from $381 million despite nearly 3% growth in volumes to 898,000 tonnes from 874,000 tonnes.