OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP), a leading producer of essential minerals, reported a year-over-year decline in third-quarter 2016 sales and earnings driven by lower salt sales volumes and lower average selling prices in both its salt and plant nutrition businesses.

“While our quarterly results fell below 2015 levels, we did perform in line with our expectations given the challenging highway deicing and plant nutrition markets,” said Fran Malecha, Compass Minerals’ president and CEO. “We remain focused on delivering value to shareholders. We believe this will come through further improving our ability to cost-effectively serve customer demand in both businesses, maximizing the value of our acquisition of Produquímica, and completing our major, on-going capital investments designed to ensure the sustainability of our core assets and support future growth.”

Third-quarter 2016 net income declined 66 percent to $9.1 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, from $27.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2015.

Total revenue in the third quarter of 2016 was $179.6 million, which was a 23 percent reduction from the prior-year quarter due to significantly lower salt sales volumes following the very mild 2015-2016 winter and price weakness in both the salt and plant nutrition businesses.

Salt segment operating earnings declined 33 percent from third-quarter 2015 results to $30.0 million. This reduction was driven primarily by lower pre-winter demand for deicing salt.

Plant nutrition segment earnings declined to $2.5 million from $8.8 million in the third quarter of 2015 as improved per-unit costs and a slight increase in sales volumes were more than offset by lower average selling prices in the 2016 quarter compared to the prior-year period.

On a consolidated basis, third-quarter 2016 operating earnings totaled $19.5 million compared to $40.8 million in the prior-year period.

SALT SEGMENT

Lower sales volumes and average selling prices resulted in a 25 percent decrease in salt segment revenue in the third quarter of 2016 compared to prior-year results. Lower pre-season demand for bulk and packaged deicing products resulted in a 28 percent year-over-year reduction in highway deicing sales volumes and an 11 percent decline in consumer and industrial sales volumes. Total segment average selling price in the 2016 third quarter decreased 1 percent from prior-year results, although highway deicing prices declined 13 percent, which was largely offset by a mix shift toward higher-priced consumer and industrial products. The 13 percent decline for highway deicing average selling price was driven primarily by lower North American highway deicing contract prices, the negative impact from weakness in the UK currency, and a higher mix of sales to chemical customers compared to the 2015 quarter. Consumer and industrial average selling price in the third quarter was flat with prior-year results.

While salt segment EBITDA in the third quarter decreased 25 percent from the prior year, the EBITDA margin percentage was essentially unchanged from prior year results. This margin result was driven by a 10 percent reduction in per-unit shipping and handling costs as well as the improved profitability of the consumer and industrial business.

PLANT NUTRITION SEGMENT

Third-quarter plant nutrition segment revenue decreased $8.7 million year over year to $41.5 million from $50.2 million in 2015. This decrease was driven by a 21 percent year-over-year decline in average selling price for plant nutrition products partially offset by a 4 percent increase in sales volumes from the third quarter of 2015. The volume increase represents the first quarterly year-over-year improvement in the last six quarters.

Plant nutrition segment EBITDA for the 2016 third quarter totaled $10.8 million compared to $16.4 million in the third quarter of 2015. An 12 percent year-over-year improvement in per-unit cost was not enough to offset lower average selling prices.

OTHER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense totaled $25.7 million in the third quarter of 2016, which was a 6 percent reduction from prior-year results driven primarily by the company's continued cost-reduction initiatives.

Other expense totaled $1.5 million compared to other income of $4.3 million in the third quarter of 2015. This difference was driven primarily by foreign exchange impacts and debt issuance costs.

The company reported a net loss of $0.4 million from its equity investment in Produquímica in the third quarter of 2016. This represents 35 percent of Produquímica's second quarter net loss, as Compass Minerals reports Produquímica's results on a three-month lag. Prior to equity-method accounting adjustments, Produquímica contributed net income of $0.6 million in the third quarter of 2016. On October 3, 2016, Compass Minerals completed the acquisition of the remaining 65 percent of Produquímica.

In order to fund the acquisition, the company issued a new $450 million senior secured term loan on September 28, 2016. The new loan matures July 1, 2021, and carries an interest rate of LIBOR plus 2 percent.

OUTLOOK

The company currently expects its full-year EPS to range from $2.80 to $3.10 per diluted share, including the contribution from Produquímica (based on a Brazilian Real-to-US$ exchange rate of R$3.25/US$1.00).

This outlook factors in the recently completed annual highway deicing bid season in North America, which resulted in approximately 7 percent lower average awarded bid prices compared to the 2015-2016 bid season results for Compass Minerals. In addition the company's awarded bid volume has declined approximately 15 percent compared to the prior season's results, consistent with the overall reduction in demand in our served market.

The company expects the year-over-year improvement in plant nutrition segment sales volume to continue in the fourth quarter as demand for the company's sulfate of potash begins to return toward historical levels.

The company expects Produquímica to contribute between R$60 million and

R$70 million in EBITDA and between $0.15 to $0.20 to Compass Minerals earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2016, excluding any impact from purchase accounting adjustments.

A summary of the company’s outlook for the remainder of the year is summarized in the table below.

Conference Call

Compass Minerals will discuss its results on a conference call tomorrow morning, Tuesday, October 25, at 9:00 a.m. ET. To access the conference call, interested parties should visit the company’s website at www.compassminerals.com or dial 877-614-0009. Callers must provide the conference ID number 1059697. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, callers may dial 913-643-4075. Replays of the call will be available on the company’s website for at least two weeks.

An updated summary of the company’s performance is included in a presentation available on the company’s website at www.compassminerals.com.

About Compass Minerals

Compass Minerals is a leading provider of essential minerals that provide solutions to nature’s challenges, including salt for winter roadway safety and other consumer, industrial and agricultural uses, and specialty plant nutrition minerals that improve the quality and yield of crops. The company produces its minerals at locations throughout the U.S., Canada, Brazil and the U.K. For more information about Compass Minerals and its products, please visit www.compassminerals.com.

Non-GAAP Measures

Management uses a variety of measures to evaluate the company’s and its operating segments’ performance. While the consolidated financial statements provide an understanding of the company’s overall results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, management analyzes components of the consolidated financial statements to identify certain trends and evaluate specific performance areas. In addition to using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) financial measures, management uses EBITDA and EBITDA adjusted for items which management believes are not indicative of the company’s ongoing operating performance (“Adjusted EBITDA”), both non-GAAP financial measures, to evaluate the operating performance of the company’s core business operations because its resource allocation, financing methods and cost of capital, and income tax positions are managed at a corporate level, apart from the activities of the operating segments, and the operating facilities are located in different taxing jurisdictions, which can cause considerable variation in net income. The company also uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to assess its overall and operating segment operating performance and return on capital against other companies, and to evaluate potential acquisitions or other capital projects. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not calculated under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income, cash flows or other financial data prepared in accordance with GAAP or as a measure of overall profitability or liquidity. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA exclude interest expense, income taxes and depreciation and amortization, each of which are an essential element of the company’s cost structure and cannot be eliminated. Consequently, any measure that excludes these elements has material limitations. While EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are frequently used as measures of operating performance, these terms are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies due to the potential inconsistencies in the method of calculation. The calculation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as used by management is set forth in the following table.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation statements about the company’s ability to deliver value to shareholders, cost-effectively serve customer demand, maximize the Produquímica investment, make investments that ensure sustainability and future growth, and the company’s outlook for the fourth quarter of 2016 and full-year 2016, including its expectations regarding demand, earnings per share (“EPS”), volumes, average selling prices, operating earnings margin, EBITDA, corporate and other expense, interest expense, capital expenditures and tax rates. We use words such as “may,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “will,” “likely,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “forecast,” “outlook,” “project,” “estimate” and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events to identify forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. These statements are based on the company’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the company’s actual results to differ materially. The differences could be caused by a number of factors, including without limitation (i) weather conditions, (ii) pressure on prices and impact from competitive products, (iii) any inability by the company to fund necessary capital expenditures, (iv) foreign exchange rates and the cost and availability of transportation for the distribution of the company’s products, and (v) the ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses. For further information on these and other risks and uncertainties that may affect the company’s business, see the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and October 30, 2016 filed or to be filed with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect future events or developments. Because it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, this list cannot be considered a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

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