Fertiglobe, the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and net ammonia combined and the largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the MENA region, reported strong revenues of $915 million for Q1 2026, reflecting a 32% Y-o-Y increase.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 31% Y-o-Y to $342 million, and adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders of $145 million grew significantly by 98% Y-o-Y. 

This performance reflects continued cost and operational discipline across the portfolio with tangible results from the Manufacturing Improvement Plan (MIP) and Fertiglobe’s ability to capture value in tight market conditions, the company said.

The robust Q1 2026 results reflect the resilience of Fertiglobe’s globally diversified platform and its ability to capture value in tight market conditions.

Urea operating rates across the platform reached 96% in Q1 2026, demonstrating tangible results from the Manufacturing Improvement Plan (MIP) with inventory built to ensure continued customer supply in coming months. 

The company's Egyptian operations continued to achieve record-breaking performance in Q1 2026, with no downtime across units and operating rates above 105% at EFC.

Own-produced sales volumes were down 12% Y-o-Y due to trade route disruptions from the UAE and a base effect as Q1 2025 included 239kt of sales deferred from Q4 2024. Adjusting for these 2024 deferrals, own-produced sales volumes would have been up 5% Y-o-Y.

Higher pricing resulting from the global tightness in urea and ammonia supply and peak spring buying in the Northern Hemisphere more than offset the impact of lower sales volumes in Q1 2026.

Fertiglobe is advancing its Grow 2030 strategy through disciplined capital allocation and a focus on high-return, resilient growth opportunities, with implemented initiatives representing c.43% of the announced growth target set in May 2025, it said.

Market outlook

Near-term nitrogen market fundamentals remain robust, driven by in-season demand from major importing customers amid tight supply, exacerbated by the recent conflict in the Middle East, as well as elevated industry costs. The long-term outlook for urea is underpinned by consistent demand growth and limited supply additions, the company said.

Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of Fertiglobe, commented: “Our Q1 2026 performance reflects the strength and resilience of Fertiglobe’s platform, with disciplined execution translating into strong earnings growth despite a complex operating environment due to the conflict in the Middle East. Safety remains our highest priority, and I am grateful to our teams for maintaining safe and reliable operations across the portfolio in these conditions, delivering record performance in Egypt and excellent urea utilisation rates of 96% across the platform, a remarkable improvement from 87% in Q1 2025.

"Looking ahead, we remain focused on advancing our Grow 2030 Strategy with discipline and pace. We have already implemented over 40% of our targeted growth initiatives, alongside delivering our cost optimization program on a run-rate basis, strengthening our return profile and reinforcing our pathway to sustained earnings and free cash flow growth.

"With robust near-term nitrogen fundamentals and a structurally supportive medium-term outlook, Fertiglobe is well positioned to continue delivering resilient performance while progressing high-return growth opportunities across our core and low-carbon product portfolio.”

Dividends and capital structure

Fertiglobe paid and committed to $2.9 billion in capital returns to shareholders since IPO, including execution on its 2.5% share buyback program. As of 31 March 2026, Fertiglobe repurchased 111 million shares, representing 1.34% of total outstanding shares (at a buyback cost of $74 million).

As of 31 March 2026, Fertiglobe reported a net debt position of $822 million, down from $1.0billion as of 31 December 2025, and implying consolidated net debt to LTM adjusted EBITDA of 0.7x. Fertiglobe's financial position enables the company to effectively balance growth investments and shareholder distributions, supported by a solid balance sheet and robust consolidated free cash flow generation of $235 million in Q1 2026. - TradeArabia News Service