Yara recorded revenues of $16.6 billion (roughly £12.9 billion) for last year, according to the group's integrated financial report for 2021.
The Norwegian company, which is a major fertiliser and crop nutrition producer, employs around 17,800 people and operates in 60 countries, including Ireland.
Yara has 28 production plants and 200 terminals, warehouses, blending units and bagging facilities. There are over 10,800 branded retail outlets around the world.
Yara is due to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Yara results
According to the 2021 financial report, Yara recorded revenues of $16.6 billion (£12.9 billion) last year, up from $11.7 billion (£9.1 billion) in 2020.
Operating income stood at just over $1 billion (down from over $1.1 billion in 2020), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were $2.8 billion (up from $2.2 billion in 2020).
Net income fell from $691 million last year to $384 million in 2021.
Commenting on the results, Yara CEO Svein Tore Holsether said:
"The financial results of 2021 show improved underlying performance, demonstrating our business model’s resilience in a volatile market environment.
"Higher prices more than offset increased energy costs, higher fixed costs and currency effects.
"The market environment was supportive, as a result of strong demand and a tight global supply situation.
"However, high and volatile natural gas prices continue to pose a challenge for the nitrogen industry in Europe, adding to global food security concerns in a situation with already tight supply across the main nutrients," the CEO outlined.
Holsether explained that no financial achievement is worth celebrating if it comes at the expense of employee safety. He said the company would not be satisfied until it has reached "zero accidents".
"I go through every accident report and know that all of them are avoidable," he said.
Holsether said that the pandemic has expanded its work on health and safety with several measures to counter staff stress and fatigue.
He noted that Yara quickly condemned the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and was also directly impacted when the company's offices in Kyiv were hit by a missile.
"We need to prevent the war in Ukraine from leading to a hunger catastrophe in the most vulnerable and food insecure regions, as millions are food dependent on precisely Russia and Ukraine," Holsether stated.
Climate change
Yara said that it previously adopted the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and uses them to develop its business strategy.
"One such area is the work we’re doing on clean ammonia – both blue and green.
"In the energy transition, ammonia has the potential to support the decarbonisation of several energy-intensive industries, since it is more suitable than hydrogen to transport and store," Holsether said.
"We are committed to supplying clean ammonia to be used either as fossil-free shipping fuel or fossil-free fertilisers," the Yara CEO added.
