Tessenderlo Group, Brussels, reported a slight dip in Agro segment results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2018. Agro, which includes Tessenderlo’s fertilizer businesses, reported a 3.7 percent dip in adjusted EBITDA, to €110.2 million from 2017’s €114.4 million. Tessenderlo said a slight improvement in the Crop Vitality and NovaSource segments was offset by lower Tessenderlo Kerley International (TKI) EBITDA.
TKI reported lower volumes as well, due to production issues at the Ham, Belgium, and Rouen, France, locations. The company said those issues have been solved. Those issues also offset new Thio-Sul ® production in Rouen that started in third-quarter 2017, as well as lower maintenance expenses.
2018 Agro revenues were off 1.5 percent, to €589.8 million from €598.9 million. Lower volumes at TKI were cited, though they were partially offset by activities in other Agro units.
The company said fourth-quarter 2018 Agro revenues were up 12.5 percent, as higher sulfate of potash volumes compensated for a third-quarter decrease.
Company-wide, Tessenderlo reported an 83.6 percent uptick in fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA, to €44.7 million from the year-ago €24.3 million. Revenues were up 12.5 percent, to €401.4 million from €356.6 million. Full-year adjusted EBITDA, however, was off 5.3 percent, to €177.8 million on revenues of €1.62 billion, versus 2017’s €187.8 million and €1.66 billion, respectively.
In other news, Tessenderlo is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019. To highlight this achievement, it has launched a new website to commemorate the event, which it said will detail 100 remarkable facts about the company’s history – www.100yearstessenderlo.com.