El Niño dulls Graincorp's profit forecast

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raincorp has slashed its full year profit forecast and warned that dry El Nino conditions in eastern Australia are likely to eat into future earnings.

Eastern Australia's biggest grain handler group cut its underlying profit forecast for fiscal 2014/15 to $45 million, just six months after saying it was on track to produce a result between $45 million and $60 million.

It also predicted net profit will fall to $32 million from $50 million in 2013/14 after facing intense competition and lower grain production.

Adding to Graincorp's woes, the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast drier and hotter conditions across much of eastern Australia linked to the El Nino weather pattern - a shift in sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

Read the SBS story - “El Nino dry to harm Graincorp earnings.”