Monsanto (MON) Affirms Guidance into Whistle Stop Event

Highlighting its innovation advantage and growing global business portfolio at its seventh Whistle Stop event for investors, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) management today will underscore the company’s unique ability to create value as it increases the productivity of farmers while delivering continued business growth.

“The current environment certainly touches everyone in agriculture, but unlike more commodity-oriented organizations, Monsanto’s ability to continually innovate to deliver new value each year for farmers is a strategic differentiator for our company,” said Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer. “Our focus on innovation creates more opportunities to deliver growth in both the current environment and over the long-term as strong demand-driven fundamentals reinforce agriculture’s multi-year opportunity.”

Updated Growth Outlook

Monsanto remains on track to deliver at the upper end of its original fiscal-year 2014 guidance. The company confirmed 2014 ongoing earnings per share guidance of $5.10 to $5.20, as-reported EPS guidance of $5.12 to $5.22, and free cash of $700 to $800 million. The company expects net cash provided by operating activities to be $2.9 billion to $3.3 billion, and net cash required by investing activities to be approximately $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2014. (For a reconciliation of ongoing EPS and free cash flow see note 1).

Drawing on its ability to develop new technology, deliver consistent upgrades and build from a diversified global product portfolio, Monsanto’s management also will highlight its target to at least double full-year ongoing EPS by the end of fiscal year 2019, with projected annual growth over the five-year period beginning with fiscal year 2015.

Expanding Opportunity in Core Business and Transformational New-Platform Potential

The Whistle Stop event will focus on technology deployment and portfolio expansion that translates to multiple layers of growth opportunity both in the company’s core business and through transformational new platforms.

Providing the foundation for the company’s growth targets is the continued opportunity from the core business, highlighted by three key growth platforms featured at the event that the company expects will contribute more than $1 billion each in total incremental gross profit growth over the next five years.

• “The Decade of the Soybean” – With the progression of significant technology upgrades that target more than 100 million acres of global soybean opportunity through Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Intacta RR2 PRO™ and the Roundup Ready® 2 Xtend Crop System system, the soybean platform embodies the opportunity of Monsanto’s technology innovation.
• Breeding-Backed Global Corn Upgrades – One of the largest continuing opportunities is to deliver new value to growers through the annual upgrade of Monsanto’s global corn portfolio with newer, better-yielding offerings. Monsanto remains on track with this portfolio upgrade opportunity, bolstering its mix of new products that drive a steady uplift in its seed germplasm offerings in every major corn-growing market.
• Global Corn Footprint Expansion and Portfolio Leverage –Monsanto also is well positioned for global growth from a portfolio of premium-performing corn products globally, ranging from contribution from operational efficiency to the opportunity to become a leading player in expanding markets like Eastern Europe while growing its offerings in its foundation markets.

The company’s core business growth is backed by its industry-leading R&D pipeline, where Monsanto’s innovation is unlocking new areas that expand farmers’ tools and create new growth platforms for the business. Among the new platform opportunities featured at the Whistle Stop event:

• Stronger-Than-Projected Adoption on The Climate Corporation Platform: Response to the company’s suite of offerings in its Climate Corporation platform has been stronger than originally projected and better than recent updates, with the company reaching more than 50 million acres with its Climate Basic service. The strong farmer response sets the stage for the confidence in the build out of the platform as The Climate Corporation helps create a new unified approach to helping farmers manage information to improve productivity.
• Ability to Unlock Microbials through Collaboration with Novozymes: The collaborative approach with Monsanto and Novozymes through The BioAg Alliance brings together two leaders to create the industry’s most advanced microbials platform. With the largest discovery and development engine ever built for microbials, combined with a significant current commercial footprint, The BioAg Alliance has the potential to elevate microbials as a new tool for farmers.

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