MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian recession begins to hit US companies profits and shares

“We are taking aggressive actions to address the extraordinary operating environment in Brazil,” said Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO

Agricultural giant FMC is the latest company to warn about operations in Brazil and now the stock is crashing. On Monday the $5 billion agricultural company announced that it would lay off 800-850 people — saving the company about $150 million a year by 2017 — while also cutting its profit outlook for the third quarter and all of 2015.

 The main driver of the company's downbeat outlook is Brazil, which FMC said has created “significant headwinds” that will continue to weigh on its agricultural solutions unit in the second half of this year.

The Real took earnings in this segment down $200-$240 million, though price increases offset $90-$110 million, according to the company.

As FMC notes, the Brazilian Real is down about 50% this year against the dollar and fell 25% against the dollar in the third quarter alone.

Earlier this month, DuPont cut its outlook citing headwinds out of Brazil.

And as we noted back in September, with inflation and unemployment surging as the Real collapses against the dollar, the economic situation in Brazil is a mess.

“We are taking aggressive actions to address the extraordinary operating environment in Brazil,” said Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO, and chairman.

“The steps we are announcing today will protect the profitability of the business during this downturn, shrink the capital employed in the region and position FMC to take advantage of a future market recovery. FMC will be well positioned to deliver solid earnings growth and higher returns beginning in 2016, even in the face of soft market conditions”, he added