NUFARM has shocked the market with a sharper-than-expected halving of full-year earnings guidance due to pricing and weather conditions.
The crop protection maker's sales suffered in its crucial final quarter, The Australian reports.
Less than a month after Elders' similar downgrade, Nufarm yesterday said it now expected net operating profit of between $55 million and $65m, excluding non-operating items, for the year to July 31, down from $110m to $130m.
Analysts had been predicting a result of about $95m after Nufarm's most recent guidance in March, when it unveiled a first-half loss of $40m.
Nufarm managing director Doug Rathbone, who in March sold 3 million shares in the group as part of a gradual sell-down, said the result was extremely disappointing and unsatisfactory.
"The extent of the miss is a cause for some real concern and we will be taking a very close look at our forecasting and information systems to ensure we don't find ourselves in this position again," he told analysts in a conference call yesterday.
Read more at The Australian online
