OCI 3Q results off; beefs up AS position
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) reported a 31 percent drop in net income for the third-quarter ending September 30, 2012, compared to the year-ago quarter, mainly citing a slowdown in its Construction segment. OCI said its Fertilizer Group had strong results. Company-wide, net income fell to $126.8 million on revenues of $1.37 billion from the year-ago $182.9 million on revenues of $1.36 billion.
OCI also noted that it has beefed up its ammonium sulfate business by acquiring distribution rights for product produced by Lanxess NV at its Antwerp facilities in Belgium. The rights were acquired from Fertiva GmbH, a unit of Eurochem. OCI says the deal entails up to 1 million mt of AS including granular. OCI unit, OCI Nitrogen currently distributes approximately 750,000 mt of AS produced by DSM NV in the Netherlands. Combined, the Fertilizer Group expects to annually distribute 1.75 million mt of AS both in standard and granular form, making it a leading supplier in Europe and Brazil.