All Posts from November 5, 2013

CF 3Q earnings off 42 percent

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported a 42 percent drop in third quarter earnings attributable to common shareholders to $234.1 million ($4.07 per diluted share) on sales of $1.1 billion compared to the year-ago $403.3 million ($6.35 per share) on sales of $1.36 billion. EDITDA was $477.4 million, down from $729.1 million.

“We faced a challenging global fertilizer market this quarter, but thanks to the strength of our business model we generated nearly $480 million of EBITDA,” said CF Chairman and CEO Stephen Wilson. “The fact that we generated these results in a seasonally slow quarter with floor level global nitrogen prices reflects our competitively strong position on the global nitrogen cost curve.”

Phosphate volumes were up slightly to 526,000 st versus the year-ago 517,000 st, with the company citing an uptick in exports during the quarter.

Nitrogen volumes were off 6 percent to 2.78 million st versus the year-ago.

Prices for both nitrogen and phosphates were weaker.

Nine-month net earnings were $1.14 billion ($19.01 per share) on sales of $4.15 billion, down from the year-ago $1.38 billion ($21.14 per share) on sales of $4.46 billion.

Nine-month nitrogen volumes were 9.38 million st, down from 9.69 million st, while phosphates were 1.44 million st, down from 1.53 million st.

Mosaic 3Q income off 70 percent

The Mosaic Co. reported third quarter 2013 net earnings of $124 million, compared to $417 million for the same period a year ago. Earnings per diluted share were $0.29 in the quarter compared to $0.98 for the same period last year. Current quarter results included a $142 million, or $0.22 per share, negative impact of notable items, largely non-cash, primarily as a result of strategic decisions to divest assets or operations. Mosaic’s net sales in the third quarter were $1.9 billion, down from $2.6 billion for the same period last year, primarily driven by lower prices and lower North American sales volumes. Operating earnings during the quarter were $144 million, including $123 million in losses from write-down of assets, and were down from $644 million for the same period a year ago.

"Lower potash and phosphate prices, a late North American fall application season and cautious dealer behavior led to this quarter’s weaker results," said Jim Prokopanko, Mosaic and CEO. "We believe the current challenges in the environment in which we operate, for both phosphate and potash, are cyclical in nature and provide Mosaic opportunities to deploy capital, including shareholder distributions. The long-term outlook for Mosaic remains compelling."

Mosaic also announced plans to sell its salt operation and close the small potash mine located at Hersey, Mich.

Koch increases stake in Intrepid Potash

Koch Industries Inc. has increased its stake in Intrepid Potash Inc. to 6.9 percent, according to Nov. 4 filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. As of Sept. 30, Koch reported that it owned 5.2 million Intrepid shares.