PhosAgro reports 123.2% net income growth

PhosAgro has published its financial results for 2019. Its revenue increased by 6.3% to 248.125 billion rubles ($ 3.8 billion), net income grew by 123.2% to 49.408 billion rubles ($ 779 million), free cash flowwent up by 37, 8% to 28.272 billion rubles ($ 437 million).

At the same time PhosAgro’s net debt at the end of 2019 compared with the same date in 2018 decreased by 2.7% to stand at 131.583 billion rubles ($ 2.1 billion).

“2019 was a challenging year for the fertilizer market. Throughout the year, prices for our products came under pressure due to adverse weather conditions in key sales markets, as well as increased global supply amid stable demand. As a result, at the end of the year, prices for phosphate-based fertilizers reached near-record lows,” commented PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev. “Despite the unfavorable pricing environment, 2019 became a record year for us in many respects. PhosAgro, being one of the most efficient producers of phosphate-based fertilizers in the world, was able to increase sales volumes to 9.5 million tons, that is by 7.0% compared to 2018. At the same time, revenue grew by 6.3%. Strong revenue growth was ensured by a balanced approach to investments and maintenance, a high level of self-sufficiency in key inputs, a flexible sales policy and the exceptional quality of our raw materials.”

According to Mr Guryev, the company’s EBITDA over the past year exceeded 75 billion rubles ($ 1.2 billion), while EBITDA margin remained at a robust 30.5%), and free cash flow increased by almost 40% compared to last year and amounted to more than 28 billion rubles ($ 437 million) . The improved financial performance allowed not only to fully self-finance the annual capex program, but also to improve the PhosAgro debt ratios.

“Our excellent financial performance and a comfortable debt level enabled us to pay out decent dividends. According to the 2019 results, we expect to pay out dividends of 24.9 billion rubles ($ 393 million), which corresponds to 88% of the company’s free cash flow for the year,” added Andrey Guryev.