PotashCorp's Q3 profits jump to record $1.2bn high

23 October 2008 11:55  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--PotashCorp’s third-quarter net income rose fivefold to a record high $1.24bn, exceeding the $1.1bn earned in the whole of 2007, on the back of significantly higher prices for potash, nitrogen and phosphate products, the Canadian producer said on Thursday.

Operating income for the three months ended 30 September surged to $1.71bn, from $406.2m during the same period last year, while sales more than doubled to $3.06bn, from $1.30bn, it added.

Fuelled by significantly higher prices for all our potash, nitrogen and phosphate products, gross margin for the third quarter grew to a record $1.7bn, up from $475.1m in the third quarter of 2007, said PotashCorp.

"The fundamentals of our business remained robust in the third quarter and continued to support demand and prices for our products, especially potash," said PotashCorp president and CEO Bill Doyle.

Doyle said that although all sectors, including agriculture, had been impacted by the response to the accelerating global financial crisis and increased selling of liquid assets to attain and hold cash, the most basic drivers of the company’s business remained intact.

"Despite the recent onset of a global economic downturn, the need for food is not abating," he added.

“The gains in crop production must be protected just to maintain the current supplies and more fertilizer will be needed to ensure food security in the future,” Doyle said.

($1 = €0.78)

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Author: Hilde Ovrebekk
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