A fourth-quarter $17.1 million writedown in goodwill in its wholesale fertilizer business helped move the Andersons Plant Nutrient Group (PNG) to a pretax loss of $18 million on sales of $136.9 million compared to the year-ago loss of $3.8 million on sales of $136.4 million, respectively. While sales volumes were up for the quarter, margins tightened in what the company called a “persistently soft market.”
PNG reported a full-year loss of $45.1 million on sales of $651.8 million, down from the prior year income of $14.2 million on sales of $725.2 million, respectively.
Company-wide, The Andersons benefited from a one-time $74.2 million tax gain under the next tax laws. Fourth-quarter net income attributable to The Andersons was $68.4 million ($2.42 per diluted share) on sales of $1 billion, up from the year-ago $10.1 million ($0.36 per share) and $1.1 billion, respectively. Full-year income was $41.2 million ($1.46 per share) on sales of $3.7 billion up from $11.6 million ($0.41 per share) and $3.9 billion, respectively.