The Plant Nutrient Group and Grain & Ethanol Groups at The Andersons helped the company achieve record earnings for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2010. The Andersons posted net income of $26.1 million ($1.39 per diluted share) on sales of $1.15 billion, compared to the year-ago $18.4 million ($.88 per diluted share) on sales of $915.9 million.
For the year, the company reported net income of $64.9 million ($3.48 per share) on sales of $3.4 billion, versus the prior year’s $39.6 million ($2.08 per share) on sales of $3.0 billion.
Plant Nutrients had record operating income for the year of $30.1 million, due primarily to an increase in volume of more than 30 percent. Sales were $619.3 million. Prior year income was $11.3 million on sales of $491.3 million. Fourth-quarter operating income was $8.9 million on sales of $158.6 million, up from the year-ago $1.7 million on sales of $111.4 million. This was due to material increases in both volume and gross margin. Volume was up 20 percent due to the excellent fall application conditions and the continued re-stocking of the retail pipeline.
Grain & Ethanol annual operating income was also a record at $81.4 million on sales of $2.4 billion, up from the prior year’s $51.3 million on sales of $2.15 billion. Fourth-quarter income was $38.6 million on sales of $912.6 million, up from the year-ago $27.8 million and sales of $722.3 million.
Turf and Specialty had an annual income of $3.4 million on sales of $123.5 million, compared to the year-ago $4.7 million on sales of $125.3 million. Turf reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.4 million on sales of $17.6 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $1.1 million on sales of $19.4 million. It is typical for the Turf unit to incur a loss in the fourth quarter.
The Retail segment reported an annual operating loss of $2.5 million on sales of $150.6 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $2.84 million on sales of $161.9 million. Much of the decline in Retail revenues resulted from the closing of the Lima, Ohio store in 2009. Fourth-quarter losses were $134,000 on sales of $42.9 million, an improvement over the year-ago loss of $721,000 on sales of $41.7 million.
Full-year Rail operating income was $107,000 on sales of $94.8 million, up from the year-ago loss of $1 million on sales of $92.8 million. These results include gains on sales of railcars and related leases of $5.5 million in 2010 and $1.7 million in 2009. The majority of the 2010 gains, or $4.3 million, related to the scrapping of railcars. The average utilization rate for 2010 was 73.6 percent, which is down from the prior year’s average of 78.1 percent. Rail reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.1 million on sales of $22.2 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $1.5 million on sales of $21.1 million.