{"id":28333,"date":"2016-02-10T10:53:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T16:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=28333"},"modified":"2016-02-10T10:53:44","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T16:53:44","slug":"agrium-sees-strong-fourth-quarter-profit-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/agrium-sees-strong-fourth-quarter-profit-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Agrium sees strong fourth-quarter profit growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Martin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Agrium Inc said fourth-quarter earnings\u00a0almost tripled, thanks to\u00a0impressive operating improvement in its\u00a0wholesale business unit.<\/p>\n

In the latest quarter the\u00a0Canadian\u00a0fertilizer producer reported net income of $200 million, or $1.45 per diluted share,\u00a0a substantial increase over its year-ago net of $70 million, or 46 cents per diluted share.<\/p>\n

The profit surge came even though sales fell by 11 percent to\u00a0$2.41 billion from $2.71 billion. The company was able to cut its expenses from $625 million to $576 million, which helped offset the slump in sales.
\n<\/p>\n

Excluding\u00a0unusual factors, the company reported its adjusted earnings as $1.52 per share – a big increase compared with last year’s adjusted 60 cents, and matching Wall Street expectations.<\/p>\n

CEO Chuck Magro said the key differentiator for the company was “our integrated strategy, which helped provide stability in our earnings.”<\/p>\n

Agrium Inc’s EPS by Quarter<\/h2>\n

[field name=”chart”]<\/p>\n

Agrium is most profitable during Q2 during planting season. Source: Agrium Inc<\/a>. (Alison Martin\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n

Agrium’s\u00a0wholesale business unit – which produces, markets and distributes\u00a0fertilizers made of nitrogen, phosphate and potash – reduced\u00a0production costs and sold a higher volume of its nutrients, which kept the company strong despite a weak macroeconomic environment, officials said.<\/p>\n

Profits at the wholesale unit depend on how much farmers plant each year.\u00a0Commodity grain prices fell in 2015, and high crop\u00a0yields that year\u00a0meant\u00a0companies\u00a0that\u00a0bought\u00a0grains and oilseeds still\u00a0had\u00a0much of their\u00a0purchases\u00a0still in inventory.<\/p>\n

Still, Agrium expects growers to continue planting high acreage this year, even surpassing last year’s record high, which means the\u00a0company\u00a0will continue to sell more seeds, crop production products and nutrients.<\/p>\n

In New York Stock Exchange trading Tuesday, Agrium shares closed down 32 cents, or less than one percent, at $83.69.<\/p>\n

For the full year, Agrium reported a strong increase in its net earnings\u00a0to\u00a0$988 million , or $6.98 per diluted share, from $798 million, or $5.51 per diluted share in 2014.\u00a0In the year just ended, sales dropped to $14.8 billion from $16.04 billion in the prior year.<\/p>\n

Agrium expects full year 2016 EPS in a range between $5.50 and\u00a0$7.00, assuming\u00a0farmers continue to plant high numbers of acreage. That forecast is at the low end of current analyst predictions of $7.01 a share.<\/p>\n

“We are assuming normal spring and fall application seasons, recognizing there is always a risk that inclement weather could affect the timing and duration of each season,” the company said in its press release. “Our earnings per share guidance assumes some recovery from current nitrogen prices during the key application seasons.”<\/p>\n

Photo at the top: A brief summary of Agrium Inc’s fourth quarter earnings. (Alison Martin\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Martin Agrium Inc said fourth-quarter earnings\u00a0almost tripled, thanks to\u00a0impressive operating improvement in its\u00a0wholesale business unit. In the latest quarter the\u00a0Canadian\u00a0fertilizer producer reported net income of $200 million, or $1.45 per diluted share,\u00a0a substantial increase over its year-ago net of $70 million, or 46 cents per diluted share. The profit surge came even though […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":28473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nAgrium sees strong fourth-quarter profit growth - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/agrium-sees-strong-fourth-quarter-profit-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agrium sees strong fourth-quarter profit growth - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alison Martin Agrium Inc said fourth-quarter earnings\u00a0almost tripled, thanks to\u00a0impressive operating improvement in its\u00a0wholesale business unit. In the latest quarter the\u00a0Canadian\u00a0fertilizer producer reported net income of $200 million, or $1.45 per diluted share,\u00a0a substantial increase over its year-ago net of $70 million, or 46 cents per diluted share. 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