Incitec Pivot unwinds fertiliser business as write-offs spike to $1b

Incitec Pivot says it expects to benefit from a pick-up in economic growth in the United States even as weakness in its fertiliser business, one of two core divisions, took write-offs to more than $1 billion in the past 12 months.

The ASX-listed explosives and fertilisers group plunged to a loss of $311 million for the 12 months ended September 30 from a net profit after tax of $560 million a year ago because of those impairments. Incitec Pivot told shareholders on Monday it had written $543 million from the fertiliser business, from $498 million announced earlier in the financial year,