By Tess Stynes
CF Industries Holdings Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings
fell 27% as the fertilizer maker was hurt by higher natural-gas
prices and negative derivatives impacts.
Looking ahead, CF Chief Executive Tony Will said the company has
an attractive order book and is well positioned to capitalize on
the fertilizer market conditions it sees developing for the first
half of 2015.
Overall, CF Industries reported a profit of $238.3 million or
$4.82 a share, down from $325.8 million, or $5.71 a share, a year
earlier. The latest period included a net 84 cents a share in
charges, mostly related to negative derivatives impacts. The
year-earlier period included a net 60 cents a share in gains,
mostly related to positive derivatives impacts. Revenue decreased
8.3% to $1.22 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$5.08 and revenue of $1.16 billion.
During October, CF Industries said its merger talks with
Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International ASA to form the
world's largest nitrogen fertilizer company had ended after the
companies couldn't agree on terms. A deal would have created a
company with $18 billion in annual sales. Analysts, however, also
had raised the prospect of regulatory scrutiny for the deal.
A deal would have combined Yara's global distribution system
with CF Industries' proximity to low-cost U.S. natural gas-a
critical component in nitrogen fertilizer-as declining crop prices
and rising competition from China increase pressure on the
sector.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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