DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International ASA (YAR.OS)
Tuesday posted an increase in fourth-quarter net profit to NOK3.39
billion, from NOK1.57 billion in the year-earlier quarter, as firm
fertilizer prices supported its earnings.
MAIN FACTS:
-The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of NOK19.64 billion,
compared with NOK17.39 billion for the same period the year
before.
-A FactSet survey of 16 analysts had forecast revenue of
NOK21.22 billion.
-Net profit was NOK3.39 billion, up from NOK1.57 billion a year
earlier and more than the expected NOK2.98 billion.
-The company posted earnings before interest, taxation,
depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, of NOK4.98 billion, up
from NOK2.99 billion a year ago and higher than the NOK4.38 billion
the market was expecting.
-"Yara reports strong fourth-quarter results as margins improved
compared with last year, more than offsetting the impact of lower
sales volumes," said Jorgen Ole Haslestad, president and chief
executive of Yara, in a statement.
-Yara's average energy costs in the fourth quarter were up on
the year, to US$8.6 per million British thermal units, from US$6.4
in the same period of 2010.
-The company said its board will propose to pay a NOK7.00
dividend for 2011, up from NOK5.50 in 2010.
-Yara received net income of NOK967 million from its 16%
ownership in Yara Praxair, which "positively affected" the
fourth-quarter result, it said.
-Yara is targeting a third-quarter start-up of production and at
the Libyan Norwegian Fertilizer Company, Lifeco, in Libya. Its
target is full production by the end of 2012. Production was
suspended in mid February 2011 amid unrest.
-Yara expects its first-quarter energy costs to be about NOK150
million higher than in the same period of 2011, which is below its
previous estimate. Second-quarter energy costs are expected to be
NOK150 million lower than in 2011.
-Yara said that agricultural markets are strong, with healthy
farm margins globally. The price index of the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization is 7% lower than a year ago, but remains
at a historically high level, it said.
-Yara's 2011 result was its strongest ever, as strong fertilizer
prices offset lower delivered volumes, the company said.
-Shares Monday closed at NOK257.50.
-By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland, Dow Jones Newswires: +47 902 27
908; kjetilmalkenes.hovland@dowjones.com