Compass Minerals reported first-quarter net earnings of $49.7 million ($1.46 per diluted share) on sales of $345.7 million, compared to the year-ago $60.6 million ($1.79 per share) and $393 million, respectively.
Despite a mild winter, a 7 percent uptick in year-over-year Salt operating earnings, partially offset a 75 percent decline in the Plant Nutrition segment. Plant Nutrition earnings dropped to $5.3 million on sales of $51.1 million from the year-ago $20.8 million and $73.6 million, respectively. Both sales volumes and prices were down with volumes at 74,000 st with an average sales price of $689/st compared to the year-ago 97,000 st and $759/st, respectively.