Nutrien Ltd. announced today its 2018 fourth-quarter results, with net earnings from continuing operations of $296 million on sales of $3.76 billion, up from the year-ago loss of $93 million and $3.5 billion, respectively.
“Nutrien delivered excellent operational and strategic results in 2018, and we see further opportunities for significant earnings growth and business improvement in 2019. We delivered a 32 percent increase in earnings, exceeded merger synergy targets and received $5.3 billion in net proceeds from the sale of equity investments. We remain focused on prudent capital allocation, having already returned $2.8 billion to shareholders, while investing in our global retail network and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Our results this quarter demonstrate the resilience in our earnings and cash flow, given this was one of the wettest fall seasons in the US in over 100 years. For 2019, we expect strong crop input demand in the first half of the year due to the limited application window in the fall of 2018, a recent improvement in crop prices and higher corn acres in the US,” commented Chuck Magro, Nutrien president and CEO.