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: