Global leader in commodity processing and corn-based ethanol production Favorable long-term earnings growth prospects Highly liquid balance sheet Cyclicality of the agricultural commodity industry Less geographic diversification versus peers The ratings on Decatur, Ill.-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) reflect a strong business risk profile, which factor in the company's position as one of the world's leading agribusiness companies, with major North American market positions in agricultural processing, merchandising, and ethanol production. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services views ADM's financial profile as intermediate, which reflects a highly liquid balance sheet and a recent history of maintaining credit measures that are close to medians for the 'BBB' rating category. These include a debt to EBITDA ratio of about 2.6x for the
