K&S sees further drop in earnings for 2024 as potash prices keep falling
By Tristan Veyet and Antonis Pothitos
March 14 (Reuters) - German salt and potash miner K&S sees a further decline in core earnings for year ahead as due to lower potash price levels, it said on Thursday, after reporting a more than two-thirds fall in its core 2023 profit.
The Hessian-based company expects yearly core earnings to be within a range of 500 to 650 million euros ($547.05 million - $711.17 million), compared with analysts' expectations for 556.6 million euros, according to a consensus compiled by Vara research.
Potash prices fell from near record highs hit in 2022 following a drop in demand, as farmers used up existing fertiliser stocks and cut back on its use to rein in costs.
For 2023, K&S reported a 71% slump in core profit, posting earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 712 million euros, although above analysts' expectations for 695.1 million euros, according to consensus forecasts.
K+S' yearly results echo the wider potash sector's performance, as companies such as Toronto-listed Nutrien and U.S-based Mosaic have also seen their margins dented by lower potash prices.
K+S said it would propose for a dividend of 0.70 euro per share for the 2023 financial year, above expectations for 0.63 euro per share, according to consensus estimates.
($1 = 0.9140 euros) (Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Antonis Pothitos in Gdansk, Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt, editing by Sharon Singleton)
