PhosAgro EBITDA slips 7% in Q2
MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Fertilizer-maker OJSC PhosAgro's Earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) slid 7% to 8.038 billion rubles in the second quarter of this year, the company reported.
Analysts had expected 8.355 billion rubles.
Company sales revenues for Q2 were up slightly at 24.441 billion. Analysts had expected 25.41 billion rubles.
Net profit fell 64.3% year-on-year in Q2 to 1.93 billion rubles. Analysts expected 4.2 billion rubles, but without the effect of foreign-exchange translation losses.
H1 2012 net profit was RUB 10.8 billion, a decrease of 12% y-o-y. Revenue for the period was up 3% y-o-y at RUB 50.4 billion.
Operating profit for H1 2012 was RUB 13.9 billion, a 6% decrease from H1 2011. EBITDA margin remained at a comfortable 34%, slightly decreasing from 36% for the first six months of 2011.
Cash flow from operating activities amounted to RUB 13.2 billion in H1 2012, compared to RUB 17.9 billion in H1 2011. The company's capital expenditure (capex) in cash terms during the six months ended 30 June 2012 was RUB 6.7 billion, compared to RUB 5.5 billion in H1 2011.
Net debt at 30 June 2012 stood at RUB 14.8 billion, down from RUB 15.2 billion on 31 December 2011. This puts PhosAgro's net debt to EBITDA at a very comfortable level of 0.43x.
Commenting on the H1 2012 IFRS results PhosAgro CEO Maxim Volkov said: "We were able to sustain a solid EBITDA and decent profit position despite the lower global phosphate pricing environment due to our flexible production and sales models, with almost 100% capacity utilisation during the period and continued increases in our production capacity. We are committed to continue returning profits to our shareholders in the form of dividends when we do not have any significant development cash requirements, and to that end the Board has recommended an interim dividend of RUB 4.7 billion or RUB 38/share, which is 56% of the net profit attributable to the shareholders of PhosAgro for the first half of 2012."