Cargill reported Thursday net earnings of $425 million in the fiscal 2015 third quarter ended Feb. 28, 2015, a 33 percent increase from $319 million in the year-ago period. Through nine months, the company earned $1.63 billion, up 13 percent from last year. Revenues in the third quarter decreased 11 percent to $28.4 billion; nine-month revenues totaled $91.97 billion.
Industrial and Financial Services earnings were down due to decreased results in asset management. The segment's energy businesses staged a rebound after an unprecedented price spike in US power markets marred results a year ago. In the current period, the energy team successfully navigated the dramatic decline in global crude oil prices and the volatility in petroleum markets that followed. The segment's steel processing operations were well positioned to meet manufacturing customers' demand for just-in-time inventory in a falling price environment linked to the slowdown in global steel consumption.