John Deere 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

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4
A&T SETTING PACE
Our performance was led by the Agriculture & Turf division (A&T),
which had another banner year. Deere’s largest division brought
advanced new products to market, broadened its customer
base, and reinforced its preeminent position in key markets.
A&T results were aided by positive farm conditions and higher
sales of large equipment, particularly in the United States.
In other businesses, Construction & Forestry (C&F) continued
a turnaround with operating profit climbing 21 percent on a sales
increase of 19 percent. Division sales have risen well over two-fold
since 2009. C&F introduced advanced new products, continued
its expansion into new geographies and gained market share in
key product categories.
Deere’s financial services organization delivered solid profits while
providing competitive financing to our equipment customers on
an increasingly global scale. Although net earnings declined slightly
from 2011 record levels, the loan portfolio grew by about $4 billion.
Credit quality remained exceptionally strong, with the provision
for loss declining to a negligible amount.
Investors shared in our success of 2012. Stockholders realized a
total return of about 15 percent for the fiscal year compared with
a slight decline for the overall U.S. equity market. Deere common-
stock dividends totaled about $700 million, a record, while share
repurchases of $1.6 billion were completed. Since mid-2004, the
company has increased the quarterly dividend rate on 10 occasions
and repurchased about 160 million shares of stock.
POWERFUL TRENDS DRIVING PLANS
Despite persistent global economic concerns, longer-term trends
based on population growth and rising living standards remain
quite powerful. It is widely believed that agricultural output will
Launched in early 2012, the agship S690 Combine
(shown with 18-row 618C Corn Head) is finding strong demand
in large-farm markets globally, especially in regions with
high-yielding corn, soybeans, or small grains.