Agricultural chemicals maker Nufarm Ltd
(ASX:NUF) has come under fire for issuing an earnings downgrade minutes before shareholders voted to sell 20% of the company to Japan’s Sumitomo.
At an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday the company announced that it expected to post a half year loss of $40 million.
In a statement to the ASX Nufarm says that disclosing this downgrade at its extraordinary meeting was the first opportunity the company has had to update shareholders.
However, at Tuesday’s meeting managing director Doug Rathbone said the company is forecasting a headline profit of between $120 million and $140 million in the second half of the year.
Nufarm’s interim results for the six months to January 31, 2010 are scheduled to be released to the market on March 30.
For fiscal 09 Nufarm reported net profit after tax of $79.88 million.
