Russian fertilizer producer PJSC Acron's net profit for the first quarter of 2017 plummeted 88% year over year to 1.57 billion Russian rubles from 12.66 billion rubles in 2016, the company said May 30.

Chairman of Acron's board of directors, Alexander Popov, said profit was impacted by changes in the value of derivative financial instruments, namely by the expiration of a call option for shares in the Talitsky project. Popov noted that the loss was nonmonetary and would not affect dividend payouts.

Ruble appreciation and higher costs resulted in a 28% reduction in EBITDA year over year, to 7.43 billion rubles from 10.29 billion rubles. Company revenue was also impacted by unfavorable dollar-to-ruble exchange rates, dropping 4% to 24.07 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2017, from 25.02 billion rubles in the year-ago period.

Over the same period, operating cash flow decreased to 1.17 billion rubles from 3.82 billion rubles, mainly as a result of increased working capital and reduced operating profit, the company said.

At the end of the quarter, the company's net debt amounted to 51.37 billion rubles.

With regard to production, Acron said its commercial output of mineral fertilizers rose 24.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2017.

As of May 29, US$1 was equivalent to 56.46 Russian rubles.