CF Industries Holdings Inc., Deerfield, Ill., on Oct. 31 announced third-quarter 2018 net earnings attributable to common stockholders of $30 million ($0.13 per diluted share) compared to a year-ago loss of $87 million ($0.37 per share). Adjusted EBITDA moved up to $300 million from the year-ago $134 million.
“Strong execution by the CF team and higher nitrogen prices have driven our performance in 2018, with adjusted EBITDA through nine months 50 percent higher than last year,” said Tony Will, CF president and CEO. “Over the next several years, we believe the global nitrogen supply and demand balance will continue to tighten. We also expect that global energy fundamentals are likely to support higher hydrocarbon prices internationally, elevating production costs for marginal producers. These same factors are keeping North American natural gas prices low, benefiting our production costs. This should further enhance the superior cash generation capability of CF’s network.”
Third-quarter sales were $1.04 billion, up from the year-ago $870 million. The increase was primarily driven by higher average selling prices across all segments. Total sales volumes were slightly lower compared to year-ago levels as lower ammonia and ammonium nitrate sales volume were partially offset by higher granular urea sales volume.
Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., reported third-quarter 2018 net income of $12.8 million ($0.37 per diluted share), compared to the year-ago $32 million ($0.94 per share). The 2017 results included a net benefit of $0.29 per diluted share from a one-time tax benefit of $13 million partially offset by a $3 million after-tax restructuring charge. While third-quarter 2018 revenue across all the company’s segments increased year-over-year, increased costs, primarily at the Goderich salt mine, lowered net earnings.
“Our strong top-line performance continued in the third quarter driven primarily by robust plant nutrition demand in Brazil, attractive pricing for our plant nutrition products in North America and more typical pre-season demand for deicing products in our Salt business,” said Compass Minerals’ President and CEO Fran Malecha. “We are encouraged by the performance of our Plant Nutrition business where our strategic investments to expand and improve our operations are demonstrating their ability to drive top- and bottom-line growth. Our Salt segment, however, performed below our expectations. This was primarily due to lower-than-expected production at our Goderich mine following the 11-week strike at the mine, which ended in July. While these results are disappointing, we have a plan in place for improvement and our Goderich employees are working diligently to reach our targeted production rates.”
Total revenue in the third quarter increased 11 percent year-over-year, as the Salt business posted a 10 percent increase in revenue and the Plant Nutrition business boosted revenue by 12 percent.
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