ADM Probe Highlights Struggle to Expand Beyond Crop Trading (2)

On a recent flying visit to Archer-Daniels—Midland’s European base, the company’s Chief Financial Officer Vikram Luthar had a pessimistic message to deliver.

Speaking to employees in Rolle, a small Swiss town on the shore of Lake Geneva, Luthar said operating costs across the company were continuing to go up and that everyone had to find ways to boost margins, according to a person familiar with the events, who asked not be identified describing internal meetings.

Luthar, 56, who had been in the CFO role for less than two years, was under pressure from multiple fronts, not least from a faltering ...