Moscow-Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem OJSC on June 2 reported revenues of US$1.91 billion for its full-year 2008 financial results, up 174 percent from the $700 million reported in 2007. Gross profit for the company was up some 237 percent, to $1.02 billion from $303.5 million in 2007. Operating profit amounted to $509 million, or 27 percent of revenue, for the 2008 fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2008, compared with $144 million, or 21 percent of revenue, in 2007. Net profit for 2008 totaled $91 million, up slightly from 2007’s $90.7 million. EBITDA totaled $626 million in 2008, up 230 percent from 2007’s $190 million, and the company said it achieved an EBITDA margin of 33 percent in 2008, compared with 27 percent in 2007. “For Uralchem, 2008 was at the same time a year of great financial and operational achievements, a time for laying foundation for future growth, as well as a period of considerable challenge in the midst of the world financial and economic crisis,” said CEO Dmitriy Osipov. “Despite worsening conditions on the world markets and in the fertilizer industry in the fourth quarter of 2008, Uralchem still achieved high results for the year as a whole.” Uralchem’s export sales totaled $1.49 billion in 2008, up substantially from the prior year’s $471 million, despite what Osipov described as a “sharp decrease in demand and prices for mineral fertilizers” in the fourth quarter. The company said its sales volumes of commercial products increased to more than 4.3 million mt in 2008, up 25 percent from 2007. Osipov said all production facilities were running at full capacity by the end of the first quarter of 2009, and noted that 2008 saw an expansion of Uralchem’s phosphate fertilizer product line through the acquisition of a 74.82 percent stake in Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers OJSC. He also highlighted Uralchem’s sales network expansion and increased domestic sales through its “trading house” regional representative offices in Russia. For 2009, Osipov said a priority for the company is to reach planned operating capacities for its new products, and to enhance its financing. Uralchem’s cash flow from operating activities in 2008 totaled $277 million compared with $118 million in 2007, while cash flow in investing activities totaled $882 million in 2008, compared with $325 million in 2007. The company’s total debt as of Dec. 31, 2008, amounted to $1.31 billion, while cash and cash equivalents totaled $117 million and net debt totaled $1.2 billion.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain