This figure sat comfortably inside the firm's earlier estimation of a drop of 35-40 percent and was blamed primarily on higher corn and energy costs in its North American region.
This meant that first-quarter earnings fell to $16.5 million, or 22 cents a share, from $25.7 million, or 35 cents a share, last year, though revenue rose by 3 percent to $566.5 million from $550.4 million.
"While the year-over-year comparison is a tough one, since the first quarter of 2004 was the second-strongest quarter of last year, I am optimistic that the remaining three quarters of this year will be back on track to deliver another year of growth," said CEO Sam Scott.
He admitted that Q1 had been "disappointing", but expressed his confidence that the company would bounce back.
"We anticipate that our results in North America will improve as HFCS sales in Mexico continue, corn costs decline and manufacturing expenses return to more normal levels," said Scott.
He believes that the increase in HFCS sales in Mexico will be the key to growth in North America, but cautioned that this would be partially offset by a significant drop in the Canadian business. Indeed, he remained generally cautious about the state of play in this region and suggested that Asia/Africa, followed by South America would be the areas providing the momentum behind the company.
"Because of the first quarter problems, operating margins and return on capital employed are expected to decline slightly in the US business," he said.
For the year, the company expects earnings to grow 7 percent to 15 percent from the $1.25 a share reported in 2004. Analysts are currently looking for earnings of $1.35 a share on sales of $2.4 billion for 2005.