Shares of agricultural produce supplier FMC fall after financial targets are cut

Shares of FMC Corp fell more than 8% on Monday after the agricultural products supplier cut its outlook for the year due to volume declines in its key markets.

“At the end of May, we experienced unexpected and unprecedented volume declines in three of our four operating regions as our channel partners rapidly reduced their inventory,” CEO Mark Douglas said in a statement.

Affected regions are North America, Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The stock, which has fallen more than 23% this year, was down 8.4% at $95.45 in morning trading.

The company cut its full-year revenue forecast to $5.20 billion to $5.40 billion from $6.08 billion to $6.22 billion.

At the midway point, the company expects second-quarter revenue to be about 30% lower than its previous forecast.

In the previous quarter, FMC sales were affected by drought in southern Brazil and Argentina, with lower demand in EMEA and channel inventory management in India.

Analysts at Credit Suisse cut their full-year profit forecast by 14% to $6.57 a share.

FMC, which sells pesticides and herbicides, said on Monday that it expected adjusted core earnings for the second quarter to be between $185 million and $195 million, nearly 50% below previous guidance.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the year are now expected to be between $1.30 billion and $1.40 billion, up from the previous forecast of $1.50 billion to $1.56 billion. (Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)