Fcstone

Infobox_Company | company_name = FCStone, LLC | company_type = | foundation = 1924 | headquarters =
location = Kansas City, Missouri, USA
key_people = Paul G. (Pete) Anderson, CEO | industry = Risk Management | revenue = 257 Million | homepage = http://www.fcstone.com/ |

FCStone Group, Inc. is an integrated commodity risk management company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The firm provides risk management consulting and transaction execution services to commercial commodity intermediaries, end-users and producers. It also assists primarily middle market customers in optimizing their profit margins and mitigating their exposure to commodity price risk. In addition to their risk management consulting services, they operate one of the leading independent clearing and execution platforms for exchange-traded futures and options contracts.

FCStone Profile

*Net revenues in excess of $257 million
* Total assets of more than $14.2 billion and net income of $33 million
* Serves more than 10,000 global clients
* Employs approximately 450 people
*The parent company operates through four commodity risk management platforms that operate individually.
* Serves more than 7,500 customers and in the 12 months ended February 28, 2007, executed 86.3 million derivative contracts in the exchange-traded and over-the-counter markets.

History

A Brief History:
* In 1924, Mr. Saul Stone, a door-to-door egg wholesaler, formed Saul Stone and Company.

* The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, formerly the Chicago Egg and Butter Board, afforded Saul Stone and Company the ability to implement risk adverse hedging. In the 1930’s, as one of the first clearing members of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Saul Stone and Company became users as well as brokers.

* FCC’s roots can be traced back to 1955, when a company called Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Iowa first purchased a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade.

* In 1968, Farmers Grain Dealers Association began servicing its members with futures based hedging services.

* Throughout the years, Saul Stone and Company diversified, traded and hedged all kinds of agricultural commodities including eggs, butter, meats and grains. In the early 1970’s, Stone became one of major innovators on the International Monetary Market, bringing financial futures to the forefront of the industry.

* In 1978, a new entity called Farmers Commodities Corporation was formed to accommodate the needs for grain hedged brokerage services.

* Farmers Commodities Corporation became a clearing member of the Kansas City Board of Trade in 1983 and in 1985 purchased its first seat on the Chicago Board of Trade.

* In 1988, Farmers Commodities Corporation gained full clearing-member status at the Chicago Board of Trade, while expanding back office operations in Chicago to facilitate the rapidly growing volume of trades.

* By 1990, Saul Stone and Company had expanded its clearing operations to include all major futures exchanges in New York. Having member status and full back office operations at these various exchanges afforded Stones’ wholesale, institutional and retail customers full service clearing and execution.

* Farmers Grain Dealers, Inc., now known simply as FGDI, LLC, was established in 1991 to assist members in their cash grain merchandising needs.

* On July 1, 2000, Farmers Commodities Corporation purchased Saul Stone and Company forming a new corporation called FCStone LLC, which is now called FCStone Group, Inc. Currently there are four entities servicing the firm's customer base.

* In 2005, the firm became a privately held company owned by employees and 550 Agriculture Cooperatives.

* In 2007, FCStone completed their initial public offering, or IPO, and is traded on the NASDAQ as FCSX.

External links

* [http://www.fcstone.com FCStone Official site]
* [http://investor.fcstone.com/annuals.cfm 2007 Annual Report]