Fertilizer Giant Nutrien Names New CFO Amid Industry Swoon
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Nutrien Ltd. named a new chief financial officer amid an industry downturn that has eroded the fertilizer giant’s profits.
Mark Thompson, who has been with the company since 2011 and is serving as chief commercial officer, assumes his new role Aug. 26. He is set to replace Pedro Farah as part of Nutrien’s succession plan, the company said in a statement.
The Canadian company presented a mixed outlook Aug. 7 in its latest earnings report. Second-quarter net income beat the average analyst estimate amid higher fertilizer sales, and the company raised its full-year outlook for global potash demand.
Thompson
The leadership change comes as the fertilizer industry faces lower grain prices that threaten to make crop nutrients less affordable for farmers. Nutrien and other fertilizer producers have contended with extreme market volatility over the past few years. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine roiled global supply chains and pushed prices — and Nutrien earnings — to record highs. Yet demand then tumbled as growers and retailers eschewed the sticker shock.
Nutrien cut its full-year outlook for adjusted retail earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to a range of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion, below the average analyst estimate, due to ongoing Brazilian market woes and late crop plantings in North America.
The company also said it expects demand for crop inputs in North America to remain healthy in the current quarter as farmers seek the biggest harvests possible. Expectations for record U.S. corn and soybean yields have sent crop prices lower.
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“We anticipate that good affordability for potash and nitrogen will support fall application rates in 2024,” the company said. It boosted its full-year global potash shipment forecast to 69 million to 72 million tons.
Scotia Capital analyst Ben Isaacson, who has a sector outperform rating on Nutrien shares, said the ongoing problems in Brazil caught some investors off guard. “We wouldn’t be surprised to see Nutrien trade lower near term,” he wrote in a note Aug. 7.
Shares of Nutrien traded in Toronto have fallen 13% so far this year.
