Hong Kong-The Noble Group’s agriculture segment, which includes fertilizer, saw a first-quarter gross profit of US$108.9 million on sales of $1.61 billion, up 6.8 percent from the year-ago $97.5 million and $2.14 billion, respectively. Ag sales were off slightly, to 3.3 million mt from 3.4 million mt. Noble said its fertilizer margins improved during the quarter. Noble-wide, the company reported a net profit of $90.2 million on sales of $6.1 billion for the first quarter ending March 31, 2009, versus the year-ago $167.1 million and $9.5 billion, respectively. While overall profits and sales were off, Noble reported a 26 percent jump in tonnage volume, to 49 million mt from the year-ago 39 million mt.
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