The Company's strategic transformation is focused on three strategic pillars: Productivity, Innovation, and Culture. The Productivity pillar includes (1) partnering across various global teams including procurement, supply chain, operations, and commercial to optimize costs and improve both production volumes and demand fulfillment across the enterprise; (2) implementation of improved standardized business processes and aggressive management of selling, general, and administrative expenses and Corporate costs; (3) portfolio simplification to improve operational performance; and (4) increased use of technology, data analytics, and automation at production facilities, in offices, and with customers to improve efficiencies and customer service.

The Company's significant portfolio actions and announcements during 2024 include the following acquisitions: Revela Foods, a Wisconsin-based developer and manufacturer of innovative dairy flavor ingredients and solutions; FDL, a UK-based leading developer and producer of premium flavor and functional ingredient systems; PT Trouw Nutrition Indonesia, a leading provider of functional and nutritional solutions for livestock farming in Indonesia; and Totally Natural Solutions Ltd., a UK-based hops flavoring producer.

The Company continues to expand its market footprint and business growth through the continuous development of its portfolio and optimization of production systems. Internal capabilities and acquisitions expand the Company's ability to unlock the potential of nature and serve customers' evolving and expanding needs through its offerings of innovative ingredients for all segments.

As previously disclosed, the Company is under investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) relating to, among other things, intersegment sales between the Company's Nutrition reporting segment and the Company's Ag Services and Oilseeds and Carbohydrate Solutions reporting segments. The Company is continuing to cooperate with the SEC and DOJ investigations and is unable to predict the outcome of these investigations.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, in connection with the Investigation, the Company identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting related to the Company's accounting practices and procedures for segment disclosures. The material weakness resulted from inadequate controls that allowed for certain intersegment sales to be reported at amounts that were not in accordance with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

While the Company has implemented a remediation plan, the Company will not be able to conclude whether the steps the Company has taken will remediate the material weakness until a sustained period of time has passed to allow management to test the design and operational effectiveness of the new and enhanced controls.

As a result of the Investigation, correction of identified errors and related events, the Company has experienced, and may continue to experience, a number of adverse impacts and risks, including, but not limited to: the Company's Board of Directors and senior management have been required to devote significant time to the Investigation, the correction of certain segment-specific historical financial information and related matters, resulting in potential management distraction from the operation of the business; the price of the Company's common stock has declined significantly, has been subject to fluctuations and could continue to fluctuate upon further announcements or actions.

ADM's assets and operations could be subject to extensive property damage, business disruption, loss in value, nationalization, and expropriation as a result of geopolitical conflicts, acts of terrorism (e.g. purposeful adulteration of the Company's products), war, and piracy, as well as any sanctions or embargoes resulting from these events.

As the Company executes its growth strategy, through both organic and inorganic growth, it may encounter risks which could result in increased costs, decreased revenues, and delayed synergies. Growth in new geographies outside the U.S. can expose the Company to volatile economic, political, and regulatory risks that may negatively impact its operations and ability to achieve its growth strategy.

The Company has significant competition in the markets in which it operates based principally on price, foreign exchange rates, quality, global supply, and alternative products, some of which are made from different raw materials than those utilized by the Company.

The Company focuses on staying ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and science-based solutions, building direct-to-consumer sales channels and focusing on consumer needs, expanding into new markets, building strategic partnerships, leveraging data and technology, and building a strong distribution network.

Pricing of the Company's products is partly dependent upon industry processing capacity, which is impacted by competitor actions to bring idled capacity on-line, build new production capacity or execute aggressive consolidation.

Given the commodity-based nature of many of its businesses, the Company, on an ongoing basis, focuses on managing unit costs and improving efficiency through technology improvements, productivity enhancements, and regular evaluation of the Company's asset portfolio.

Manufacturing expenses increased $288 million primarily driven by increased salaries and benefits driven by salary increases, higher depreciation expenses, increased legal, professional, and other fees, increased maintenance expenses due to work performed at Ag Services and Oilseeds facilities in Decatur, Illinois and the Company's new facility in Spiritwood, North Dakota, among others, partially offset by decreases in energy costs, particularly driven by lower energy pricing in North America and EMEA.

The Company aims to mitigate climate change and protect biodiversity through renewable product and process innovations, supply chain efforts including a commitment to no-deforestation or native vegetation conversion and regenerative agriculture, and a strategic approach to operational excellence with a focus on enhancing the efficiency of ADM's production plants throughout its global operations.

R&D expense, net of reimbursements of government grants, for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $269 million.

The Company is committed to global health and sustainable products, recognizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. ADM's R&D efforts focus on creating science-based products, solutions, and technologies aligned with macro trends in food security, sustainable processes, health, and personalized nutrition.

ADM's R&D strategy prioritizes fulfilling customer expectations and supporting the Company's growth. The Company's future strategy aims to deliver world-class solutions more efficiently and sustainably, and to capitalize on ADM's full potential.

The Company anticipates spending between $400 million and $500 million on capital projects to achieve the Strive 35 targets. Through December 31, 2024, ADM has spent $297 million on projects in support of these goals since inception, of which $139 million was spent in 2024.

On December 11, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors approved a second extension of the stock repurchase program through December 31, 2029 and the repurchase of up to an additional 100,000,000 shares under the extended program. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had 115 million shares remaining that may be repurchased under its stock repurchase program until December 31, 2029.

Cash paid for share repurchases for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022 were $2.3 billion, $2.7 billion, and $1.5 billion, respectively.

ADM is committed to eliminating deforestation from all of the Company's supply chains in 2025. In 2023, after a strategic investigation of the impact of conversion of native habitats in its key supply chains, the Company announced its commitment to eliminate conversion of native habitats in high risk areas in South America for direct suppliers of all commodities in 2025 and indirect suppliers by 2027, with a 2025 cutoff date (a date after which conversion of primary native vegetation renders a given area or production unit non-compliant) for both direct and indirect suppliers.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company spent $64 million specifically to improve equipment, facilities, and programs for pollution control and in light of requirements of various environmental agencies.

ADM's Strive 35 plan is an ambitious plan to, by 2035, reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 25% from a 2019 baseline, reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 25% from a 2021 baseline, increase use of low-carbon energy sources to 25% of total energy used, reduce absolute water withdrawal by 10%, and achieve a 90% landfill diversion rate.

The Company conducts its business and has substantial assets located in many countries and geographic areas. While 64% of the Company's long-lived assets are in the United States, the Company also has significant operations in both developed areas and emerging market areas.

The Company's operating results could be affected by political instability and by changes in monetary, fiscal, trade, and environmental policies, laws, regulations, and acquisition approvals, creating risks including, but not limited to: changes in a country's or region's economic or political conditions; local labor conditions and regulations, and safety and environmental regulations; reduced protection of intellectual property rights; changes in the regulatory or legal environment; restrictions on currency exchange activities; currency exchange fluctuations; burdensome taxes and trade tariffs; enforceability of legal agreements and judgments; adverse tax, administrative agency or judicial outcomes; and regulation or taxation of greenhouse gases.

The production of the Company's products uses materials that can create emissions of certain regulated substances, including GHG emissions. Such regulated emissions also include indirect emissions that occur in the value chain as the result of activities from assets now owned or controlled by the Company.