(RTTNews) - Agricultural products supplier Agrium Inc. (AGU: News ,AGU.TO: News ) reported Wednesday a sharp decline in third-quarter profit, as sales declined across all business segments hurt primarily by lower selling prices for most products and reduced potash sales volumes.

For the third quarter, the Canada-based company's net earnings were USUS$26 million or USUS$0.16 per share compared with USUS$367 million or USUS$2.31 per share in the prior year quarter. On an adjusted basis, net earnings for the quarter were USUS$46 million or USUS$0.29 per share.

Adjusted results exclude a gain of USUS$5 million or USUS$0.02 per share on derivative financial instruments and an expense of USUS$25 million in stock-based compensation. Adjusted results also exclude an inventory write-down totaling USUS$9 million in connection with the company's wholesale purchase for resale business.

On an average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Agrium to earn USUS$0.16 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company's net sales for the quarter plunged to USUS$1.84 billion from USUS$3.11 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. Analysts expected Agrium to generate revenues of USUS$2.07 billion for the quarter.

The company has three operating segments: Retail, wholesale and advance technologies.
In the retail segment, net sales was USUS$1.23 billion versus USUS$1.59 billion in the same quarter last year. Within this segment, crop nutrient sales plunged, affected by significant decline in prices as well as late harvest in the Midwest United States. Margins and profits were lower compared to last year due to lower overall crop nutrient prices, declining price environment for most products, and the liquidation of high cost positions.

The company anticipates crop nutrient margins to improve in the fourth quarter, as fertilizer pricing appears to have stabilized for nitrogen and phosphate, and higher cost inventories have been depleted.

Meanwhile, crop protection net sales decreased 12% due to lower volumes for fungicides and lower pricing for glyphosate products. Net sales for seed, services and other decreased by 14%, and application services revenues too declined from last year.

In the wholesale segment, net sales slumped to USUS$658 million from USUS$1.60 billion in the prior year. The main factor impacting the results were lower sales prices across all three nutrients: nitrogen, phosphate and potash, as well as lower potash sales volumes. Potash sales volumes were 273,000 tonnes, down 28% from the same period last year.

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