K+S AG reported a 3.9% year-on-year increase in revenues for the first quarter to €1.17 billion, and EBITDA improved 12.3% to €237 million.
The company on May 14 highlighted deliveries from its new Bethune potash mine in Saskatchewan and higher market prices for potassium chloride as key factors, which partly offset lost sales volumes in Europe related to a late start to the spring fertilizing season as well as decreased production at the Werra plant in Germany due to limited personnel and machinery availability.
EBITDA for the potash and magnesium segment came in at €120.8 million, surging 48.8% year over year, while the salt segment's EBITDA dropped 10.6% to €120.9 million, from €135.3 million in the first quarter of 2017.
The potash and magnesium unit booked revenues of €488.7 million for the first quarter with sales of 1.9 million tonnes, while the salt unit booked revenues of 361.4 million with sales of 6.9 million tonnes.
As a group, adjusted free cash flow improved to €142.8 million, from €55.2 million in 2017, due to a 77.5% plunge in CapEx to €62.5 million.
The company maintained its outlook for 2018, forecasting a "significant" increase in EBITDA on expectations of higher output from Bethune and Werra and on a moderate increase in EBITDA for the salt business.
