Uralkali swung to profit in the year ending Dec. 31, 2021, reporting a net profit of $1.77 billion versus a $43 million net loss for the previous year, according to the company’s IFRS statements published on March 4.
The company attributed the FY21 net profit performance as mainly due to higher operating profits, positive foreign exchange differences, and fair value gains on derivatives.
Full-year EBITDA more than doubled to $2.56 billion, up from the prior-year $1.22 billion, while revenue was up 54 percent, to $4.16 billion from $2.70 billion.
Uralkali CEO Vitaly Lauk cited the global potash market’s favorable conditions during the reporting period as positively impacting the company’s key operating results.
“Flexibility of our sales ensured an optimum and balanced production volume in 2021 amid a general increase in potash prices and its limited supply,” said Lauk.
Uralkali increased potash production by 9 percent last year to 12.3 million mt, up from 11.3 million mt in FY20. However, sales volumes were lower year-over-year, slipping by nearly 6 percent to 12.0 million mt in 2021, down from 12.7 million mt the previous year.
Export sales volumes were down almost 10 percent, at 9.1 million mt versus the year-ago 10.1 million mt, while sales volumes to the domestic market increased by 11 percent, to 2.9 million mt from the year-ago 2.6 million mt. The company cited increased sales to Russian NPK producers and the country’s agricultural sector as driving the increase in its sales volumes to the domestic market last year.
The average potash export price for FY21 increased to $299/mt FCA, compared with $166/mt FCA in FY20, reflecting the increases in global potash prices over the past 12 months and more.
Lauk said Uralkali continues its normal operations and is closely monitoring the current geopolitical situation.
Uralkali expects global potassium chloride deliveries this year to be around 68-71 million mt by the end of 2022, “amid high prices and limited supply of potash” in the world market. This compares to the company’s estimated 71 million mt of deliveries last year.
Uralkali said its EGM in December voted to pay dividends on outstanding preferred shares based on its first nine months of 2021 results, and not pay dividends on the outstanding ordinary shares.