Lifosa net profits drop 10% in 2011
VILNIUS. May 28 (Interfax) - Lithuanian phosphate fertilizer maker Lifosa, part of EuroChem, made 215.58 million litai in net profits last year, 10.4% less than the year before, the company's audited financial report says.
Company income increased 32% to 1.435 billion litai. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) decreased 10.7% to 280.325 million litai and the EBITDA margin dropped from 29% to 20%.
The income increase was largely due to higher world prices for diammonium phosphate. The average price for diammonium phosphate the company produced last year was up 30.1% from the average 2010 price, though sales of this product contracted 1.8%, the report says.
Lifosa produced 835,800 tonnes of diammonium phosphate in 2011, 2.2% less than the year before, as revenue from sales of the product increased 32.7% to 1.419 billion litai.
If the average product price is around $540 per tonne, Lifosa will make some 1.3 billion litai in revenues, the report says. The company is looking to sell 772,000 tonnes of diammonium phosphate in 2012.
Lifosa expects profits to contract in 2012 due to falling world fertilizer prices. "Fertilizer prices on world markets are even worse this year than in 2011. The Lithuanian enterprise's production volume will be somewhat greater than last year, but sales revenues will be more modest. We are not hoping for a lot of profits," company General Director Jonas Dastikas said.
Lifosa exports to 42 countries. "Our main market remains Europe, then come Asia, Africa, South and North America. We added Australia last year," Dastikas said.
The litas is pegged to the euro at 3.4528 litai/eur1.