Incitec Pivot hit by two plant outages

Plant failures at fertilizer manufacturer Incitec Pivot (ASX: IPL) plants in Australia and the United States are now hitting the company’s bottom line hard.

The company announced that outages at its Louisiana and Phosphate Hill plants are expected to cut earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by $45m for the financial year ending 30 September.

Output of the Louisiana ammonia plant has been cut 80,000 tonnes for the year and at Phosphate Hill by 50,000 tonnes.

The Louisiana plant’s issues were with its carbon dioxide removal syatem which has been inspected with repairs now underway. The EBIT impact is estimated at $25 million.

Phosphate Hill suffered a leak in its phosphoric acid plant, cutting output of ammonium phosphates. The EBIT impact is estimated at $20 million.

Incitec Pivot is a global manufacturer producing a wide range of explosives under the Dyno Noble name and fertilisers and industrial chemicals under Incitec Pivot brands.

The company owns and operates 20 manufacturing plants in the US, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey, and has joint venture operations in South Africa, Malaysia, China and Australia.

Picture: Incitec Pivot

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