Platform Specialty Products Posts Wider Loss
12 May 2015 Platform Specialty Products Corp., which acquired Arysta LifeScience last year for $3.51 billion, said it posted a wider net loss in the first quarter, as it struggled with currency exchange rates and a challenging agchem environment.
Its net loss widened to $26.3 million, or 14 cents a share, from $5.9 million, or 7 cents a share in the year-ago period. On a pro forma as adjusted basis net income rose 12.8% from $41.2 million to $46.5 million and pro forma as adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders was also up 13.0% to $46.4 million.
Net sales for the quarter increased 191.1% to $534.8 million compared to $183.7 million in the first quarter of 2014. On a pro forma as adjusted basis net sales declined 6.7% from $666.7 million to $622.3 million, attributable primarily to foreign exchange headwinds. On a constant currency basis, pro forma as adjusted net sales were up 9.6% year-over-year.
The company’s Agricultural Solutions business posted an 8.5% decline in pro forma as adjusted sales from $483 million in the first quarter of 2014 to $442.0 million. On a constant currency basis, pro forma as adjusted sales grew 11.2% or $44.3 million.
Daniel H. Leever, Platform’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We had a busy yet exciting start to 2015 as we completed the Arysta acquisition and rapidly began integrating our Agricultural Solutions businesses. Our efforts have already resulted in meaningful synergies, and our strategy to focus on specialty crops in niche sectors enabled us to outperform the sector this quarter. We believe our consolidated double-digit, constant currency growth and strong margin performance is a clear indicator of the momentum and strength we possess across our business lines. While currency remains a substantial headwind, we are actively working to mitigate these pressures. Our strong sales pipeline keeps us on track to meet our 2015 targets and we remain laser focused on driving cash flow generation.”
Frank J. Monteiro, Platform’s Chief Financial Officer, added, “We are extremely pleased with our financial performance this quarter, especially in the context of a challenging agrochemical industry landscape and currency headwinds. The underlying health of our business is evident from our double-digit constant currency growth. Our strong operating performance is attributable to robust sales of our high margin products in the agrochemical business and healthy demand for products within our Electronic Solutions end market.”
Wayne Hewett, Platform’s President, noted, “The steps we took this quarter to solidify our management infrastructure and bring together our agrochemicals businesses lay the foundation for our long-term growth and success. Our integration work proceeds steadily, and we believe we have direct line of sight to our targeted $80 million of synergies over the next three years. We expect to realize in excess of $20 million of synergies in the P&L in 2015.”
In the first quarter of 2015, Platform closed its acquisition of Arysta LifeScience Limited. The company also completed several financings related to this acquisition. These consisted of raising $2.1 billion in debt funding, including an aggregate of approximately $1.5 billion in U.S. dollar and Euro denominated bonds and approximately $750 million of new incremental credit facilities.
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