CHS Positioned for Long-Term Growth

MINNEAPOLIS -- Thanks to consistent, strong financial performance, coupled with strategic domestic and global investments, CHS Inc. is positioned for long-term growth, company leaders reported at its annual meeting.

"When it comes to the producers and cooperatives who own us, and the customers we serve around the world, we must not only invest in the future, but make sure we provide relevant options for doing business with us," said Carl Casale, president and CEO of the nation's largest cooperative. "In the last two years, we've made three dozen major news announcements on investments and acquisitions on our owners' behalf that strengthen our presence at home and around the world in energy, grains, processing and food ingredients."

CHS is owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. The company supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain marketing services, animal feed, food and food ingredients, as well as business solutions including insurance, financial and risk management services. CHS also operates petroleum refineries and pipelines, and manufactures, markets and distributes the Cenex fuel brand.

Casale and other company leaders reported on CHS' 2012 performance to more than 2,200 of its owners and other guests at its annual meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

For its 2012 fiscal year (Sept. 1, 2011 to Aug. 31, 2012), CHS reported record net income of $1.26 billion on revenues of $40.6 billion. During fiscal 2013, CHS expects to return an estimated $600 million of its fiscal 2012 earnings to its owners in cash.

"When other forms of business achieve this level of profit, the benefits are shared by those who may not have a direct relationship with the company beyond its earnings," said Jerry Hasnedl, CHS' board chairman and a St. Hilaire, Minn. farmer. "But this business not only provides its owners with energy, crop inputs, grain marketing and more, it delivers a direct return that helps farmers, ranchers and local cooperatives invest in their own growth."

CFO David Kastelic noted that CHS this year made key investments in its current business operations and in new ventures that will drive long-term success, while maintaining a healthy balance sheet that will allow the company to continue investing in the future.

Highlights of fiscal 2012 include:

• Plans to acquire sole ownership of the McPherson, Kan., refinery, in which it has long been the majority owner. The facility is the site of a $555-million coker project. CHS also continues to invest in its Laurel, Mont. refinery, as well as strengthen its refined fuels supply and distribution in the northern tier of the United States.
• Stronger cooperative system alignment as five co-ops and a Canadian firm chose to join the CHS Country Operations retail business unit, and CHS partnered with several local co-ops on a variety of grain, crop nutrients and energy projects.