Fertilizantes Heringer, Viana, Brazil, said its first-quarter gross profit was the best ever recorded by the company at R$149.4 million, versus the year-ago R$34.6 million. Revenues were up 91.5 percent, to R$741.3 million from the year-ago $R$387.1 million.
First-quarter net income was still a negative R$7.5 million, but much improved over the year-ago loss of R$205 million. EBITDA was R$103.8 million, up from R$3.4 million.
The company reported a 38.5 percent uptick in fertilizer volumes for the first quarter, to 376,550 mt from the year-ago 271,895 mt. The company said its distribution strategy is to focus mainly on the Southeast, North/Northeast, and Midwest regions.
Specialty fertilizers saw the biggest improvement quarter-over-quarter, with volumes up 57 percent to 181,000 mt from the year-ago 115,000 mt. Conventional fertilizer volumes were up 25 percent, to 196,000 mt from 157,000 mt. The first-quarter specialty versus conventional mix was 48-52 percent, versus the year-ago 42-58 percent.