UPDATE 3-Bunge posts profit beat, warns weaker margins to dent 2024 results

(Recasts with 2024 earnings outlook, updates share price, paragraphs 1-4, 8)

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Agricultural commodities trader Bunge Global SA on Wednesday said narrowing soybean crush margins would reduce its 2024 earnings after posting a record fourth-quarter adjusted profit that topped Wall Street expectations.

The world's largest oilseed processor said margins in nearly all regions of the world were likely to tighten throughout the year due to ample crop supplies and expanded crush capacity.

Bunge shares were down 1.2% at $88.97 in midmorning trading.

Bunge and chief rivals Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill turned in record profits in 2022 as the grains merchants capitalized on strong demand and supply chain disruptions, but fortunes have shifted as crop supplies swelled and prices slumped.

The agribusinesses make money by processing, trading and shipping crops around the world, often benefiting when crises such as droughts or war trigger shortages.

Bunge posted an adjusted profit of $3.70 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $3.24 per share in the same quarter a year earlier and above analysts' average estimate of $2.81, based on LSEG data.

The beat comes as Bunge is working to close a deal to acquire grain handler Viterra, a merger that would create an agribusiness powerhouse closer in size to Cargill and Archer-Daniels-Midland.

Bunge said it expected full-year adjusted earnings to decline to $9 per share in 2024, from $13.66 last year, due largely to weaker processing margins everywhere except in Argentina. The forecast does not include the pending Viterra acquisition, which Bunge is aiming to close by midyear.

Earnings from its core agribusiness division, the largest by revenue and volume, jumped 89% to $835 million in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

Strong oilseed processing returns in South America, Europe and Canada offset a weaker quarter for processing in the United States, the company said.

Earnings in Bunge's merchandising operations dropped sharply due to lower margins and weaker ocean freight results. (Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, additional reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, David Ljunggren and Jane Merriman)