Agrium Q2 Profit Declines 13% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Agrium Inc. (AGU, AGU.TO) reported second quarter consolidated net earnings of $747 million or $5.02 per share,13 percent lower than the $860 million or $5.44 per share in the prior year quarter.

The company specified that latest second quarter results included a pre-tax share-based payments recovery of $30-million $0.15 per share, pre-tax proxy defense costs of $12-million or $0.06 per share, and a pre-tax loss of $3-million on natural gas and other hedge positions or $0.01 per share.

Excluding items, net earnings would have been $736 million or $4.94 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $4.98 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter rose 4 percent to $7.02 billion from $6.77 billion in the prior year quarter. Seventeen analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $6.98 billion for the quarter.