FMC Corp. (FMC: chart)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
February 5, 2010 11:00 a.m. ET

Executives

Brennen Arndt - Director of Investor Relations
Pierre R. Brondeau - President and Chief Executive Officer
D. Michael Wilson - Vice President, General Manager, Industrial Chemicals Group
William Kim Foster - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Theodore H. Butz - Vice President, General Manager, Specialty Chemicals Group
Milton Steele - Vice President, General Manager, Agricultural Products Group

Analysts

Alex - Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
Frank Mitsch - BB&T Capital Markets
Peter Butler - Glenhill Investments
Dmitry Silversteyn - Longbow Research
Douglas Chudy - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Arun Viswanathan - UBS

Presentation

Operator

Good morning. And welcome to the Fourth Quarter 2009 Earnings Release Conference Call for FMC Corporation. All lines will be placed on listen-only mode throughout the conference. After the speaker’s presentation there will be a question-and-answer period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, please press star plus number one on your telephone keypad, questions will be taken in the order they are received. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before asking a question, if you have already done so please press the pound sign now then press star one again to ensure your question is registered.

Thank you. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Brennen Arndt. Sir, you may begin.

Brennen Arndt

Thank you. Welcome everyone to FMC’s fourth quarter 2009 conference call and webcast. Pierre Brondeau, President and Chief Executive Officer will begin the call with a review of our fourth quarter performance. Pierre will then turn the call over to Michael Wilson, Vice President and General Manager of our Industrial Chemicals Group for an in-depth review of the performance and prospects for our soda ash, peroxygens and Foret businesses that comprise Industrial Chemicals.

Following Michael, Kim Foster, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer will report on our financial position and then Pierre will provide our outlook for 2010. We will complete the call by taking your questions. Joining Pierre; Kim; and Michael today for the Q&A session will be Milton Steele, Vice President and General Manager Agricultural Products; and Ted Butz, Vice President and General Manager of our Specialty Chemicals Group.

Remind you today that our discussion will include certain statements that are forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning specific factors that are summarized in FMC’s 2008 Form 10-K, our most recent 10-Q, and other SEC filings. This information represents our best judgment based on today’s information. Actual results may vary based on these risks and uncertainties.

During the conference call today, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial terms. On our FMC website available at fmc.com, you will find the definition of these terms under the heading entitled Glossary of Financial Terms. In addition, we have provided our 2009 outlook statement and a reconciliation to GAAP of the non-GAAP figures that we will use today.

It’s now my pleasure to turn the call over to Pierre Brondeau. Pierre?

Pierre R. Brondeau

Thank you, Brennen, and good morning, everyone. As you saw in our earnings release, our fourth quarter results were consistent with our expectations. We realized strong performance in our businesses that serve end markets less sensitive to the broader economy like agricultural products and biopolymers.

And in our businesses serving end markets most sensitive to the economy, though volumes were lower than a year ago, demand continued to improve on a sequential basis related to the third quarter with further improvement expected in 2010.

Let me first summarize our fourth quarter results. Sales of $722 million were 2% lower than last year’s fourth quarter, while earnings before restructuring and other income and charges of $0.94 per diluted share were 8% lower than a year ago quarter.

In agricultural products, sales of $269 million increased 12% and segment earnings were $46.8 million, increased 39% versus the year ago quarter driven mainly by sales gains in Latin America.