After a sharp sell off in crop protection and seed business Nufarm Ltd yesterday, the chair of the company’s board, John Gillam, has increased his indirect holdings in the company via an on-market purchase.
Gillam’s company, Descubridor Ventures Pty Ltd, acquired an additional 75,000 ordinary shares at $3.89 each, bringing his total to 260,000 shares.
The almost 10% drop in Nufarm shares yesterday came after the company delivered a disappointing trading update, backtracking on previously issued guidance.
The company advises that it expects underlying EBITDA to be in the range of $300 million to $330 million for FY24, compared with previous guidance of between $350 million and $390 million as provided alongside its half year result.
The downgraded earnings guidance is a result of preliminary unaudited figures to 31 July 2024, coupled with “reduced confidence that the industry environment will improve for the remainder of FY24”.
NUF pointed to the oversupplied farm chemical market as continuing to undermine earnings, particularly in Europe and North America.
The company said a “temporary downturn in the industry environment has resulted in competitive pressure causing adverse movements in price and product mix which are particularly impacting our North American crop protection business.
“These conditions are also reflected in recent peer group reporting. We have also seen lower than anticipated demand for industrial products from our manufacturing facility at Wyke which has negatively impacted our European crop protection business.”