Dyno Nobel (formerly Incitec Pivot), has announced it will sell its fertiliser distribution arm to suitor Ridley. It has penned an offtake agreement, and sold a landholding on Gibson Island for a combined $835 million.
It's almost been a year since Dyno Nobel (ASX : DNL) sent signals to the market that it was looking to offload IPF Distribution and concentrate on improving its core explosives business.
Well, it's finally found a surprise buyer in agricultural services group Ridley Corporation (ASX : RIC) which's looking to further grow and diversify its agriculture portfolio.
The group has made three sale agreements of up to $835 million, with a fourth (Phosphate Hill) on the way to further bolster its cash balance.
The deal:
- Fertiliser distribution business sale to Ridley for $375 million + $121 million working capital release
- Offtake agreement with Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers to Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets for $145 million
- Conditional sale for Gibson Island land to a real estate developer for $194 million
Dyno said it was also reviewing Phosphate Hill and will make a decision by September.
It's all part of a turnaround campaign for its explosive and fertiliser businesses through to 2030.
“In September last year we outlined our strategy to separate the Fertilisers business and become the leading global explosives business" Dyno Nobel managing director Mauro Neves said.
"I’m very pleased to announce that we are delivering on this ambition, with sale agreements for Distribution and the Perdaman Offtake Agreement, and a conditional contract of sale for the Gibson Island land."
The company swung to a first-half net profit of $7 million after tax in H1 2025 for the first half of the financial year, significantly up from wearing a $148 million loss through H1 2024.
However, EBITDA was $323 million, down from $425 million, due to losses from its American businesses, attributed to tariffs.
Shares in Dyno Nobel swung to the upside by 1.75% to $2.61 on the news and are up 16.74% for the month as it makes up for the weather and tariff shock stock price loss earlier in the year.
“Despite weather challenges presenting themselves across our businesses during the half, our underlying results have been robust, and we expect a stronger second half with the majority of turnaround impacts behind us," Neves said.
"Our transformation program remains on track to achieve the 40-50% EBIT exit run rate expected for FY25, in line with our ambition to double earnings and deliver ROIC above [doubling EBIT over f3 to 4 years].
“The impact from tariffs is expected to be minor with mitigation and we will continue to monitor global developments.”
