By Angela Chen
Fertilizer firm Mosaic Co. said its first-quarter earnings grew
35% on higher phosphate sales, though volumes of potash were down
due to issues with the North American spring fertilizer
business.
Earnings beat expectations, and shares edged up 3.8% in light
premarket trading.
Citing weakness in the agricultural sector, Chief Executive Jim
Prokopanko had said earlier that the company is benefiting from
cost-cutting and from recent acquisitions, such as its agreement to
buy Archer Daniels Midland's fertilizer-distribution business in
Brazil and Paraguay.
Overall, Mosaic posted earnings of $295 million, or 80 cents a
share, up from $218 million, or 54 cents a share, a year
earlier.
Sales increased to $2.14 billion from $1.99 billion a year
earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected a profit of 74
cents a share and revenue of $2.18 billion.
Net sales of phosphates grew to $1.2 billion from $959 million,
reflecting higher sales volume and higher finished-product prices.
Phosphate sales volumes were 2.3 million tons, on the higher end of
the company's expected range of 2.1 million to 2.3 million
tons.
For its current quarter, Mosaic projected volumes of phosphate,
its biggest contributor to revenue, of 2.3 million to 2.7 million
tons, compared with 2.6 million tons last year.
Potash net sales, meanwhile, fell to $653 million from $733
million the year earlier. Sales volume for the quarter was 2
million tons, on the low end of the company's projection of 2
million to 2.3 million tons.
"Near-term, seasonal uncertainty during this time of year has
been exacerbated by the delayed and compressed North American
spring fertilizer applications," said Mr. Prokopanko of the potash
business, though he said that it should be normalized in the long
term.
For the current quarter, volumes for potash are expected to
range from 2 million to 2.4 million, down from 2.5 million last
year.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@wsj.com
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