Potash company reports JD90.4m in net profits in 2017

AMMAN — Arab Potash Company (APC) has announced a net profit of around JD90 million in 2017, an increase of 41 per cent compared with 2016.

In a statement to The Jordan Times, APC said that after taxes, provisions and mining royalties, its net profits during 2017 increased by 41 per cent to JD90.4 million, compared with JD63.9 million in 2016.

APC Chairperson Jamal Sarayrah was quoted in the statement as attributing the main reasons for the rising profits to the increase in the quantities of potash sold, as well as the noticeable rise in the profits of derivative industries, specifically the sales of the KEMAPCO (a subsidiary) and APC’s share of profits of affiliate derivative industries, specifically the Jordan Bromine Company.

The sale by APC of its share in Jordan Magnesia Company also contributed to the company’s net profit, as a profit of JD7.9 million from a non-operational activity was recorded accordingly, the statement said.

The volume of potash sold reached 2,360,000 tonnes last year compared with 2,036,000 tonnes in 2016, an increase of 16 per cent. “The volume of sales during 2017 was a record compared with 2016,” Sarayrah said.

The leading mining company’s consolidated sales revenues last year reached JD423 million, compared with JD370 million in 2016, an increase of 15 per cent, according to the statement.

On the APC’s expansion plans, Sarayrah explained that the company is working to find the ideal mix of potash products, adding that APC completed at the end of last year the expansion of granular potash annual production capacity from 250,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes per year.

APC President and CEO Brent Heimann said that the most important factor in the growth of profitability was the firm’s achievements with regard to production costs. “APC achieved remarkable success in decreasing the production cost per tonne by 11 per cent,” Heimann said, noting that the largest savings were related to energy and the use of natural gas instead of heavy fuel.

Heimann added that the company’s effective employment of manpower in dredging salt deposits last year instead of outsourcing [the task] to external contractors also achieved significant savings in the company’s production costs.