Australias Nufarm year profit down 63 pct

Troubled Australian farm chemicals maker Nufarm (NUF.AX) reported a 63 percent slide in full-year profit before one-offs, missing analysts forecasts, but said it expected its profit to grow this year.

Nufarm, one-fifth owned by Japans Sumitomo Chemical (4005.T), was hit by a slump in sales of its key weedkiller, glyphosate, as a late, cold winter hit crop planting in Europe and North America and the worlds biggest producer, Monsanto (MON.N), slashed prices.

Net profit before one-off items slid to A$58.6 million ($56.2 million) for the year to July 31, 2010, from A$159.6 million a year earlier.

That was at the low end of the companys warning in July that its net operating profit would drop to between A$55 million and A$65 million and below analysts forecasts around A$62 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its net debt blew out to A$620 million as of July 31, which put it in breach of two of its debt covenants. Its bankers this week agreed to waive those covenants on loans due this year, giving Nufarm time to review its strategy and refinance its debt.