LUXEMBOURG, Aug. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE: AGRO, Bloomberg: AGRO US, Reuters: AGRO.K), one of the leading agricultural companies in South America, announced today its results for the second quarter of 2012. Main highlights for the period:

    --  Adecoagro recorded Adjusted EBITDA of $29.8 million in 2Q12 and an
        Adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.5%
    --  The Farming and Land Transformation businesses' Adjusted EBITDA in 2Q12
        was $22.5 million, in line with 2Q11. Operating performance was enhanced
        by an $8.0 million gain generated by the strategic sale of the San Jose
        farm, and offset by a $1.6 million loss resulting from the
        mark-to-market of our crop hedge positions, compared to a $3.0 million
        gain in 2Q11.
    --  Adecoagro's Sugar, Ethanol and Energy business began the 2012 sugarcane
        harvest and milling season during 2Q12. Operational and financial
        performance during the quarter was negatively affected by abundant
        rainfalls during April, May and June throughout the Brazilian
        center-south region. The excess rains delayed the harvest and reduced
        the sucrose content (TRS) in the cane. As a result, sugarcane milling
        during 2Q12 was 40.4% below that of 2Q11. Consequently, Adjusted EBITDA
        for the quarter was $13.5 million, compared to $49.4 million in 2Q11. If
        weather normalizes during the second half of the year, Adecoagro expects
        to compensate for the lower sugarcane crushing and production volumes
        and related financial performance during 3Q12 and 4Q12.
    --  Net income in 2Q12 totaled negative $14.9 million, $27.6 million less
        than in 2Q11. The loss for the period is the result of: (i) the delay in
        the sugarcane harvest, (ii) a $21.4 million foreign exchange loss,
        mainly non-cash, generated by the impact of the depreciation of the
        Brazilian Real on our outstanding dollar-denominated debt and
        non-deliverable forward currency hedges, and (iii) a $10.3 million
        non-cash loss resulting from the mark-to-market of our sugarcane and
        coffee biological assets. We expect poor results generated by the delay
        of the sugarcane harvest to be offset by gains during the next two
        quarters.
    --  During June 2012, Adecoagro completed the sale of the San Jose farm at a
        31.4% premium over the Cushman and Wakefield independent appraisal dated
        September 2011. San Jose is a 7,630 hectare farm purchased by Adecoagro
        in 2002 for a total of $0.7 million or $85 per hectare. The farm was
        sold fully developed 10 years later for $9.25 million or $1,212 per
        hectare, obtaining an internal rate of return of 31.8%. The transaction
        generated $8.0 million dollars of operating profit for the 2Q12 period.
    --  The construction of the Ivinhema greenfield mill in Mato Grosso do Sul
        is moving ahead as planned and on schedule. We expect the construction
        of the first phase of the mill, consisting of a nominal annual capacity
        of 2.0 million tons of sugarcane, to be completed by November 2012.
        Ivinhema is expected to undergo test runs in late 2012 and start
        commercial milling operations at the beginning of the 2013 harvest.
    --  The construction of the second free stall dairy is well advanced and is
        expected to start operating during August 2012 with 230 milking cows,
        generating additional value to our corn and soy production. The facility
        will be gradually populated until reaching full capacity of 3,500
        milking cows and an estimated production of over 120 thousand liters of
        milk per day by November 2013. The new free stall dairy will expand
        Adecoagro's milking cow herd to over 7,200 head and annual milk
        production to 90 million liters.
    --  The Franck rice mill is expected to be finished by September 2012. Once
        the assembly is completed the facility will be able to generate
        additional value to our rough rice production. The mill will have an
        annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of rough rice, increasing
        Adecoagro's total capacity to 300,000 tons.

To read the full 2Q12 earnings release, please access ir.adecoagro.com. A conference call to discuss 2Q12 results will be held tomorrow with live webcast through the internet:

English Conference Call
Aug 15th, 2012
11 a.m. (US EST)
12 p.m. (Buenos Aires/Sao Paulo)
Tel: (877) 317-6776
Participants calling from the US
Tel: +1 (412) 317-6776
Participants calling from other countries
Access Code: Adecoagro

Investor Relations Department
Charlie Boero Hughes
CFO

Hernan Walker
IR Manager
Email: ir@adecoagro.com
Tel: +54 (11)4836-8651

About Adecoagro:

Adecoagro is a leading agricultural company in South America. Adecoagro owns over 285 thousand hectares of farmland and several industrial facilities spread across the most productive regions of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, where it produces over 1 million tons of agricultural products including corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, dairy products, sugar, ethanol and electricity among others.

SOURCE Adecoagro S.A.