PHOSAGRO
OJSC PhosAgro (PHOR)
Standard & Poor's Affirms PhosAgro's Investment Grade Credit Rating of BBB-/Stable
Moscow - PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, announces that S&P Global Ratings has affirmed the Company's investment grade Issuer Credit Rating of BBB- with a stable outlook.
In its report, Standard & Poor's notes that the stable outlook for PhosAgro reflects S&P's view that PhosAgro will maintain its leading positions in the nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer segments due to very low cash cost of production and additional support from the rouble exchange rate. The agency also notes that the low cadmium content in PhosAgro's product may potentially enable the Company to increase its exports to the EU. S&P highlights that European countries are introducing a ban on imports of phosphate fertilizers with cadmium content exceeding 60 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg) from the spring of 2022, lowering this restriction to 40 mg of cadmium per kg by 2026 and potentially further after that. Restrictions such as these are supportive for the Company's export perspectives to the EU given that PhosAgro's mineral fertilizers are free from concentrations of carcinogenic heavy metals and other toxins that are hazardous to human health, allowing them to be marked with a green label.
PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev said: "PhosAgro remains a first-class borrower, with strong and sustainable profitability and cashflows supported by the success of the well-considered strategic investment programmes I have overseen as CEO. I am especially pleased that S&P have taken note of the growing momentum in the European Union to ensure that fertilizers are not a source of hazardous contaminants in the food chain, and that PhosAgro's products are unique for their adherence to even the strictest limits on impurities like cadmium."
PhosAgro currently has three investment grade credit ratings:
S&P: BBB-/Stable Moody's: Baa3/Stable Fitch: BBB-/Stable
About us
PhosAgro (www.phosagro.ru) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with aP2O5 contentof 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.
The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).
PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, more than 50 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in over 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.
PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.
More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.
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| ISIN: | US71922G2093 |
| Category Code: | MSCH |
| TIDM: | PHOR |
| LEI Code: | 25340053KRUNNYUWF472 |
| Sequence No.: | 98209 |
| EQS News ID: | 1183086 |
| End of Announcement | EQS News Service |
