The Andersons Inc., Maumee, Ohio, said Feb. 14 it is selling three Tennessee grain elevators to Tyson Foods. The sale of elevators in Humboldt, Kenton and Dyer is expected to close in March.
In the meantime, the company is exploring its options for three other elevators in Tennessee.
A fourth-quarter $17.1 million writedown in goodwill in its wholesale fertilizer business helped move the Andersons Plant Nutrient Group (PNG) to a pretax loss of $18 million on sales of $136.9 million compared to the year-ago loss of $3.8 million on sales of $136.4 million, respectively. While sales volumes were up for the quarter, margins tightened in what the company called a “persistently soft market.”
PNG reported a full-year loss of $45.1 million on sales of $651.8 million, down from the prior year income of $14.2 million on sales of $725.2 million, respectively.
Company-wide, The Andersons benefited from a one-time $74.2 million tax gain under the next tax laws. Fourth-quarter net income attributable to The Andersons was $68.4 million ($2.42 per diluted share) on sales of $1 billion, up from the year-ago $10.1 million ($0.36 per share) and $1.1 billion, respectively. Full-year income was $41.2 million ($1.46 per share) on sales of $3.7 billion up from $11.6 million ($0.41 per share) and $3.9 billion, respectively.
CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported fourth-quarter net income attributable to common shareholders of $465 million ($1.98 per diluted share) on net sales of $1.1 billion, compared to the year-ago loss of $320 million ($1.38 per share) and $867 million, respectively. The results include a $491 million tax benefit from recent legislation. CF reported an adjusted net loss of $3 million ($0.02 per share) compared to a year-ago loss of $90 million ($0.39 per share).
Full-year net income was $358 million ($1.53 per share) on sales of $4.1 billion, up from the prior year loss of $277 million ($1.19 per share) on sales of $3.7 billion. However, the company had an adjusted full-year loss of $59 million ($0.25 per share) versus 2016 adjusted income of $109 million ($0.47 per share).
Compass Minerals reported a fourth quarter loss of $4.4 million on sales of $457.9 million down from the year-ago positive $97.6 million and $443.2 million.
The new tax law resulted in one-time tax on un-remitted foreign earnings. Based on current company estimates, this one-time tax totals about $55.2 million. Compass also recorded a net tax expense of $13.8 million in quarter related to the company’s Canadian tax positions for the years 2007 through 2016 as a result of a settlement with Canadian and U.S. tax authorities.
Full-year results were down at $42.7 million from $162.7 million.
While fourth-quarter Salt results were pressured by a slow start to the winter season, operating earnings were up for both of the company’s Plant Nutrition segments—North America and South America.
