RTGAM



SASKATOON - Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. posted profit of $482.3-million in the fourth quarter, or $1.61 per share.

It was the highest quarterly total for 2010 and more than double the 79-cent per share earned in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were on average expecting earnings per share of $1.68 and revenues of more than $1.65-billion.

The company's full-year earnings were $5.95 per share, or $1.8-billion, which surpassed the $3.23 per share, or $980.7-million, earned in 2009.

Performance was impacted by takeover response costs (included in other income), which reduced earnings for the fourth quarter and full year by $0.16 per share and $0.18 per share, respectively.

Potash became the target of a nearly $40-billion (U.S.) hostile takeover offer by Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billito last summer.

Company management staunchly rejected the BHP bid as too low. A competing bid - which some observers speculated could come from a deep pocketed investor, a consortium of pension funds, or both - never materialized.

The takeover battle became a major political flashpoint in Ottawa, and in the company's home province of Saskatchewan. Premier Brad Wall was an outspoken critic of the bid, and Ottawa to reject it.

In the end, the federal government rejected the offer on the grounds it did not provide a net-benefit to Canada. BHP withdrew its bid shortly thereafter.

Saskatchewan has the world's largest deposits of potash, a valuable mineral mainly used in fertilizer.