MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russian fertilizer holding company PhosAgro posted an IFRS net profit of 3.291 billion rubles ($108 million) for January-March 2013, down 59 percent on the same period last year, the company said on Tuesday, citing lower prices for key output.
PhosAgro’s net financial result was below a consensus forecast of analysts polled by Prime news agency, who forecast the IFRS net profit at 5.13 billion rubles.
The company’s revenue for the period grew by 12 percent year-on-year to 28.9 billion rubles ($950 million), while operating profit decreased by 25 percent to 5.7 billion rubles ($186 million). EBITDA fell by 17 percent to 7.554 billion rubles ($248 million), with the EBITDA margin down to 26 percent from 35 percent a year earlier.
“Production flexibility enabled the company to significantly increase production and sales of NPS, which offset lower export revenue from MAP, DAP and NPK. NPS export sales increased by 1.629 billion rubles ($54 million) year-on-year, while export revenue from MAP, DAP and NPK decreased by 1.432 billion rubles ($47 million), or 11 percent, compared to Q1 2012,” PhosAgro said in a statement.
Cash flow from operating activities amounted to 4.1 billion rubles ($134 million) in Q1 2013, compared to 9.9 billion rubles ($328 million) in Q1 2012. The company’s capital expenditure in cash terms during the first three months of 2013 was 3 billion rubles ($98 million), compared to 3.5 billion rubles ($116 million) in Q1 2012.
The company’s net debt rose to 35.5 billion rubles ($1.142 billion) as of March 31, 2013 from 26.8 billion rubles ($883 million) on December 31, 2012 due to the significant cash outflow for the Apatit minority shareholder buyout as result of a mandatory tender offer, which was funded through PhosAgro’s long-term $500 million debut Eurobond issue, the statement said.
“In the first three months of 2013 we increased revenue by 12 percent year-on-year as a result of growth in fertilizer production and sales by 18 percent and 25 percent, respectively. We are in the second consecutive year of DAP prices being under significant pressure,” PhosAgro CEO Maxim Volkov was quoted as saying in the statement.
“Despite softening prices for our key products like DAP, MAP and NPK in the first quarter, PhosAgro managed to maintain almost 100-percent utilization… We believe that fertilizer demand will strengthen in the course of 2013.”
