Businessweek

INTL FCStone Inc. operates as a financial services company. The company provides risk management advisory services to mid-sized commercial customers. It also offers foreign exchange and treasury services, securities execution, physical commodities trading services, and execution in both listed futures and option contracts, as well as structured over-the-counter (OTC) products in a range of commodities. The company provides these services to a group of approximately 20,000 customers located in 100 countries, including producers, processors and end-users of all physical commodities whose margins are sensitive to commodity price movements; to commercial counterparties who are end-users of its products and services; to governmental and non-governmental organizations; and to commercial banks, brokers, institutional investors and major investment banks. Segments The company’s activities are divided into five functional areas consisting of Commodity and Risk Management Services (C&RM), Foreign Exchange, Securities, Clearing and Execution Services (CES), and Other. C&RM This segment serves its commercial customers by providing high value-added-service. The Integrated Risk Management Program provides customers with commodity risk management consulting services that are designed to develop a customized long term hedging program to help them mitigate their exposure to commodity price risk and maximize the amount and certainty of their operating profits. Customers are assisted in the execution of their hedging strategies through the company’s exchange-traded futures and options-on-futures clearing and execution operations and through access to customized alternatives provided by its OTC trading desk. The company also provides a range of trading and hedging capabilities to select producers, consumers, recyclers, and investors in precious and base metals, as well as certain other related commodities. This includes acting as a Category One ring dealing member of the London Metals Exchange (LME) and providing execution, clearing and advisory services in exchange traded futures and OTC products. Acting as a principal, the company commits its own capital to buy and sell the metals on a spot and forward basis. The risk management consultants organize their marketing efforts within this segment into customer industry product lines, and serve customers in the following areas: Commercial Grain: Customers in this product line include grain elevator operators, traders, processors, manufacturers and end-users. Energy: The energy customer product line targets companies where energy represents a significant input cost in the production of their product or service. Customers in this product line include producers, refiners, wholesalers, transportation companies, convenience store chains, automobile and truck fleet operators, industrial companies, railroads and municipalities. Renewable Fuels: The renewable fuels customer product line targets producers of ethanol and biodiesel products. Latin America/Brazil: The customers within this product line are involved in all sectors of agribusiness, including livestock production and feeding, flour milling and baking, oilseed crushing and refining, coffee, grain merchandising, meat processing and sugar/ethanol production. China: The China customer product line represents both Chinese future commission merchants (FCMs), as well as commercial companies seeking to hedge their commodity risk exposures. The Chinese FCMs are similar to introducing brokers, facilitating the transactions of their clients in the U.S. commodities markets. The commercial accounts generally represent significant processors of grain or other commodities. Dairy/Food Service: The dairy and food service product line targets the dairy industry and users of agricultural commodities in the food industry. Cotton/Textiles: The cotton product line targets both the domestic and international markets with a focus on providing trading, consulting and information services to the global fiber, textile, and apparel industry. Precious Metals: This product line targets mining producers and scrap merchants, as w