OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Agricultural nutrients maker Agrium Inc. (AGU, AGU.TO) on Wednesday reported a surge in profit for the fourth quarter, as sales increased year-over-year, owing to higher prices as well as increased demand.
Consolidated net earnings attributable to equity-holders of Agrium increased to $189 million from $136 million in the prior year. Earnings per share climbed to $1.20 from $0.86.
Results in both quarters included net loss from discontinued operations. Earnings from continuing operations climbed to $2.04 per share from $0.97 per share.
The latest results included a $0.30 per share charge resulting from the impairment of Agrium's investment in Hanfeng Evergreen Inc. Excluding this charge, net earnings from continuing operations would have been $374 million or $2.34 per share.
On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $1.99 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Sales for the quarter increased to $3.18 billion from $2.4 billion in the previous year. Analysts estimated revenues of $3.10 billion for the quarter.
The Retail segment's sales increased to $1.8 billion from $1.3 billion owing to the addition of the Landmark business, increased prices for nutrients and higher demand for other crop input products and services.
Within this segment, Crop nutrient sales jumped 25 percent to $1 billion and Crop protection sales increased 38 percent to $403 million.
The Wholesale segment's sales touched a record of $1.5 billion in the quarter of 2011, up from last year's $1.2 billion, stemming from higher realized prices and margins across all three major crop nutrients and strong sales volumes. Agrium is a major producer of nutrients based on nitrogen, phosphate and potash.
Full-year net earnings attributable to equity-holders of Agrium surged to $1.37 billion or $8.68 per share from $713 million or $4.51 per share in the prior year. Sales increased to $15.47 billion from $10.74 billion.
AGU closed on Tuesday at $81.20, down from the prior close of $83.01, on 1.92 million shares.
AGU.TO settled at C$81.10, compared to the previous close of C$82.68, on a volume of 1 million shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2012 AFX News
