Compass Minerals (NYSE:CMP), a leading global provider of essential minerals, reported today that fiscal 2022 first-quarter winter weather activity in its North American-served market was below both prior-year comparable period levels and the ten-year historic average for the comparable period. Due to its previously announced fiscal year-end change, fiscal 2022 first quarter represents the period from Oct. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2021. Historically, the quarterly period ending Dec. 31 represents approximately 28% of the snow events experienced in North America per winter season.
Eleven representative cities in the company’s primary North American highway deicing service area reported a total of 29 snow events during the fiscal 2022 first quarter versus 45 snow events during the prior-year comparable period and the ten-year average of 41.9 events. While winter weather in the quarter was average in a number of northern served markets including Detroit, Minneapolis and Toronto, the Chicago to Milwaukee corridor experienced a minimal number of snow events, with just two for the entire period.
“The performance of our highway deicing business is dependent on several factors, weather activity being a significant one. Mild weather conditions experienced across a significant portion of our North American markets resulted in salt sales for the fiscal 2022 first quarter lower than our forecast based on average winter weather,” said Kevin S. Crutchfield, president and CEO. “While we cannot control the weather, there is still a substantial portion of the winter season ahead of us and we believe we are well positioned to serve our customers’ needs when and where it matters.”
The company sold approximately 2.8 million tons of highway deicing salt products during the fiscal 2022 first-quarter period versus sales volumes of 2.2 million tons in the prior-year comparable period. This total includes all highway maintenance products sold in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., as well as rock salt sold to the chemical industry. Sales of all salt products totaled approximately 3.4 million tons in the company’s fiscal 2022 first quarter versus 2.8 million tons in the prior-year comparable period.
Snow Events Note: A snow event is defined as any day that snowfall exceeds 1 inch or 2.5 cm of snow. The number of snow events reported may not directly correlate to Compass Minerals’ deicing results due to a variety of factors, including the relative significance to the company of the cities represented and differences in the amount of salt purchased by customers to establish their pre-season stockpiles. The weather data should be used only as an indicator of the year-to-year variations in winter weather conditions in these cities. Compass Minerals draws its weather data from the U.S. National Weather Service and National Centers for Environmental Information and Environment Canada without weighting or other adjustments.
