Mosaic Earnings Rise on Higher Prices, Volume for Phosphates

   By Angela Chen 
 

Fertilizer firm Mosaic Co. said its first-quarter earnings grew 35% on higher phosphate sales, though volumes of potash were down due to issues with the North American spring fertilizer business.

Earnings beat expectations, and shares edged up 3.8% in light premarket trading.

Citing weakness in the agricultural sector, Chief Executive Jim Prokopanko had said earlier that the company is benefiting from cost-cutting and from recent acquisitions, such as its agreement to buy Archer Daniels Midland's fertilizer-distribution business in Brazil and Paraguay.

Overall, Mosaic posted earnings of $295 million, or 80 cents a share, up from $218 million, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales increased to $2.14 billion from $1.99 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected a profit of 74 cents a share and revenue of $2.18 billion.

Net sales of phosphates grew to $1.2 billion from $959 million, reflecting higher sales volume and higher finished-product prices. Phosphate sales volumes were 2.3 million tons, on the higher end of the company's expected range of 2.1 million to 2.3 million tons.

For its current quarter, Mosaic projected volumes of phosphate, its biggest contributor to revenue, of 2.3 million to 2.7 million tons, compared with 2.6 million tons last year.

Potash net sales, meanwhile, fell to $653 million from $733 million the year earlier. Sales volume for the quarter was 2 million tons, on the low end of the company's projection of 2 million to 2.3 million tons.

"Near-term, seasonal uncertainty during this time of year has been exacerbated by the delayed and compressed North American spring fertilizer applications," said Mr. Prokopanko of the potash business, though he said that it should be normalized in the long term.

For the current quarter, volumes for potash are expected to range from 2 million to 2.4 million, down from 2.5 million last year.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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