Explosives and fertilizers maker Incitec Pivot Ltd. said profit rose by 21% last fiscal year, reflecting increased earnings from its explosives technology and improving market conditions broadly.
Incitec reported a net profit of 149.1 million Australian dollars (US$109 million) for the 12 months through September. Stripping out material items, Incitec recorded a more-than 90% jump in full-year profit to A$358.6 million.
The company reported A$209.5 million in individually material items, which included an impairment and closure costs for the Gibson Island manufacturing plant in Australia’s Queensland state and an impairment of manufacturing assets at the Cheyenne plant in Wyoming. A year ago, material items such as impairments totaled A$64.8 million.
Directors of the company declared a final dividend of 8.3 Australian cents a share.
“The strong full year result reflects the strength of the second half, with strong pull through from technology in explosives and a recovery in our end markets as well as our fertilizers business capturing the upswing in commodities prices,” said Chief Executive Jeanne Johns.
Incitec said it expects the Waggaman plant to produce at nameplate capacity in the 2022 fiscal year, except for a possible outage of up to three weeks if a replacement cooler is required. A planned turnaround at the Cheyenne plant in the second half of fiscal 2022 is expected to result in 6-8 weeks of lost production, the company said.