Amvac sales up 22% in 2012

Net Sales of American Vanguard (Amvac) increased by 27.5% to $104.3 million in the 4th quarter ended Dec 31, 2012. Net income was up by 76.6% to $11.3 million. For the full year of 2012, net sales rose by 21.6% to $366.2 million and net income was boosted by 66.5% to $36.8 million. The good performance was driven by strong end-use demand and consistent business execution by our organization, said Eric Wintemute, Chairman and CEO of American Vanguard.

Mr. Wintemute continued: “Strong global demand for food, feed, fiber and bio-fuels continues to encourage growers to support the Yield Enhancing Solutions - YES™ that American Vanguard provides. The practice of Integrated Pest Management has stimulated demand for our comprehensive offering of corn soil insecticides and proprietary closed delivery systems. In 2012, we invested in significant capital improvements at our Axis, Alabama facility to support both our growing granular soil insecticide franchise and our strong cotton defoliant business. We also established an international subsidiary in the Netherlands to focus resources on the important long-range objective of global expansion. At year-end, in a bold new initiative, we formed a majority-owned subsidiary with TyraTech, an innovative developer of natural products that will allow us to participate in the growing demand for “green technology” in commercial, consumer and agricultural pest control markets.”

Amvac sales result ($million)
Q4 ended Dec. 31	Q4 2012	Q4 2011	% change	Full Year 2012	Full Year 2011	% change
Net Sales	104.3	81.8	+27.5	366.2	301.1	+21.6
Net Income	11.3	6.4	+76.6	36.8	22.1	+66.5

Mr. Wintemute concluded: “In 2013, we are well-positioned to satisfy the continuing strong demand for our many crop protection products. Attractive crop commodity prices continue to give growers the financial health and incentive to invest in our proven technologies for maximizing their harvest output. We are prepared to satisfy the increasing demand for soil insecticides in corn and other crops by maintaining full production of our market-leading products & proprietary equipment systems. We expect to meet the increased demand for our corn herbicide Impact® which has been stimulated by our co-marketing agreement with Monsanto’s Roundup® brands. We believe that 2013 will be very promising for American Vanguard.”