Apr 11 2017
Compass Minerals reported that below-average winter weather in its primary North American service areas depressed first-quarter 2017 highway deicing salt sales approximately 6 percent from 2016 results.
"After a solid start to the winter, we are disappointed that snowfall and cold temperatures did not persist through the first quarter of 2017. As a result, we anticipate lower-than-expected highway deicing bid volumes in some of our key North American markets," said Fran Malecha, Compass Minerals' president and CEO. "We expect to offset some of the challenges from the mild winter weather by aggressively managing our cost structure. In addition, we are encouraged by the performance of our plant nutrition business."
The company will provide an update to its outlook in its first-quarter earnings release on May 3, 2017.
Eleven representative cities in the company's primary North American highway deicing service area reported 70 snow events during the period, compared to 84 in the first quarter of 2016 and the 10-year average of 116 events. For the full winter season, snow events totaled 120, which was 19 percent greater than the prior winter but 24 percent below the 10-year average.
The company sold approximately 3.5 million tons of highway deicing salt products in the first quarter of 2017, compared to 3.7 million tons in the first quarter of 2016. This total includes all highway maintenance products sold in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., as well as rock salt sold to the chemical industry. Sales of all salt products totaled 4.0 million tons in the 2017 period, compared to 4.2 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The company's first-quarter 2017 highway deicing sales volume and regional weather data can be found on its website at www.compassminerals.com/investorresources. The number of snow events reported may not directly correlate to Compass Minerals' deicing results due to a variety of factors, including the relative significance to the company of the cities represented and differences in the amount of salt purchased by customers to establish their pre-season stockpiles. The weather data should be used only as an indicator of the year-to-year variations in winter weather conditions in these cities. Compass Minerals draws its weather data from the U.S. National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center and Environment Canada without weighting or other adjustments.
Source: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=148615&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2260974