Agrium Q4 Profit Down

(RTTNews) - Agrium Inc. (AGU.TO, AGU) reported that its fourth-quarter net earnings attributable to equity holders of the company dropped to $47 million or $0.33 per share from $96 million or $0.66 per share in the prior year.

Consolidated net earnings from continuing operations of $70-million or $0.46 per share compared with net earnings from continuing operations of $110 million or $0.74 per share in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The 2014 fourth quarter results included pre-tax share-based payments expense of $25-million ($0.16 earnings per share) and net losses on foreign exchange and derivative positions of $31-million in aggregate ($0.20 earnings per share). The fourth quarter also included a one-time non-recurring tax gain of $7-million ($0.05 diluted earnings per share). Excluding these items, net earnings from continuing operations would have been $115-million or $0.77 earnings per share.

Sales for the quarter dropped to $2.705 billion from $2.867 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.60 per share and revenues of $2.96 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Agrium announced its 2015 annual guidance of $7.00 to $8.50 earnings per share. Analysts expect annual earnings of $7.55 per share.

Based on its expected increase in utilization rate for its nitrogen assets, it anticipates nitrogen production to total 3.6 to 3.8 million tonnes in 2015.

Agrium's expectation for potash production in 2015 includes incremental production from the expansion project at our Vanscoy mine, for which the tie-in was completed in the fourth quarter of 2014. It expects to produce between 1.9 and 2.2 million tonnes of potash in 2015.

Total capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $1.2-billion to $1.3-billion, of which approximately $500-million to $550-million is expected to be sustaining capital expenditures. This is a reduction from $2.0-billion of total capital expenditure in 2014, as it completes its Wholesale capacity expansion projects in 2015.