FMC citó las malas condiciones de cultivo extendidas para la caña de azúcar en Brasil para reducir las ventas de protección de cultivos.
FMC Corp. dijo que su negocio de Soluciones Agrícolas se quedó corto en el segundo trimestre debido al prolongado invierno en América del Norte, mientras que la sequía en Brasil afectó las ventas de protección de cultivos para la caña de azúcar.
FMC had said earlier that the long winter had delayed first-quarter sales, but that it expected conditions to improve and sales to recover in remaining quarters of 2014. However, the weather conditions persisted later into the second quarter than expected leading to reduced application of pre-emergent products. “Although sales of Authority brand soybean pre-emergent herbicides increased as expected, the increase was not enough to offset lower than expected sales of other products, particularly Capture LFR corn insecticide,” the company said in a statement.
The Philadelphia-based company also reported that drought conditions in the Sao Paulo state of Brazil were delaying sugarcane sales, but it did not expect the drought to continue through the second quarter. According to FMC, these extended poor growing conditions have resulted in growers reducing their use of crop protection products. “Furthermore, growers have significantly reduced the rate at which they are replanting, which has reduced the use of herbicides and insecticides in the sugarcane segment. The company does not expect conditions to improve in sugarcane during the remainder of 2014,” it said.
FMC dijo que ahora espera que las ganancias del segmento de Soluciones Agrícolas del segundo trimestre aumenten un porcentaje de un dígito medio en comparación con el segundo trimestre de 2013. Para el año completo 2014, se espera que los ingresos y las ganancias operativas para el segmento de Soluciones Agrícolas aumenten en un porcentaje de medio dígito con respecto a 2013.
FMC advirtió que reportaría ganancias ajustadas menores a las esperadas de entre 95 centavos y $1.05 por acción en el segundo trimestre, y entre $4.10 y $4.30 por acción durante todo el año.