Yara 2Q Net Profit Triples On Improved Margins, Capacity

Norway's Yara International ASA (YAR.OS) Friday said its second quarter net profit more than tripled due to improved margins and close to optimal capacity utilization.

Yara, one of the world's largest fertilizer producers, reported a rise in first quarter net profit to NOK3.72 billion from NOK1.12 billion a year earlier, slightly missing analysts' expectations of NOK3.75 billion.

"Yara reports strong second-quarter results as fertilizer margins improved and production ran at close to optimal capacity utilization," said Yara's Chief Executive Officer Jorgen Ole Haslestad. "The second quarter result benefits further from the NOK2.6 billion after-tax gain on the sale of Yara's shares in the Brazilian phosphate producer Fosfertil," he added.

The company said the new fertilizer season has had a promising start. Global nitrogen prices have increased as demand has picked up, and European nitrate prices have started substantially higher than at the beginning of the previous season, supported by low inventories.

Revenue in the second quarter was NOK15.68 billion, down from NOK16.13 billion a year ago, missing the consensus estimate of NOK16.48 billion. The company showed an operating profit of NOK1.89 billion, compared with a NOK85 million loss in the second quarter of 2009.

Yara's shares closed Thursday at NOK211.5. The stock has risen 15.5% in value over the past 12 months, compared with a 25% gain in the wider Oslo Market.

-By Erik Durhan, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]