By Tristan Veyet and Matteo Allievi
(Reuters) – German potash and salt miner K+S confirmed its quarterly core profit beat and 2024 guidance on Monday, as it benefits from a strong performances in its European speciality and industry businesses.
Prices of potash, used for fertilisers in the agricultural industry, have started to recover and stabilise following a period of volatility due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that hurt the margins of potash miners.
Hessian-based K+S reported first-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 200 million euros ($215 million), in line with its consensus-beating preliminary announcement at the end of April.
The company reaffirmed its annual guidance for an EBITDA of between 500 million and 650 million euros, with an adjusted free cash flow at break-even.
“Our strong European business with a high share of fertilizer specialties has provided a successful start into the financial year,” CEO Burkhard Lohr said in an interview published alongside the results.
This has increased the probability that annual EBITDA will be above the lower end of the 2024 guidance range, Lohr added.
K+S also said it expects no oversupply in the potash market this year.
The upbeat results echo those of Toronto-listed fertiliser group Nutrien, whose core profit was fuelled by strong demand for crop nutrients from North America.
However, they come in contrast with U.S.-based Mosaic and Norway’s Yara, which both said lower prices were weighing down on their earnings.
Shares in K+S were down 1% at 0811 GMT.
($1 = 0.9286 euros)
(Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Matteo Allievi in Gdansk; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Milla Nissi)
