TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified firm FMC Corporation's fourth-quarter consolidated profit has nearly tripled year-on-year to $76.5-million, or $0.57 a share, up from $27.1-million, or $0.20 a share, a year earlier, the company reported on Thursday.

NYSE-listed FMC said healthy earnings across its health and nutrition and minerals businesses offset a decline in its agriculture business.

Excluding special items, earnings from continuing operations during the period were $1.12 a share, beating analyst expectations of earning $0.96 a share.

Adjusted earnings excluded $74.5-million in after-tax charges, including costs associated with acquisitions and/or divestitures and restructuring.

The firm’s consolidated sales decreased about 3% year-on-year to just over $1-billion in the quarter, as a 7% decline in sales in the core agricultural solutions segment dented the top line.

Revenues from the minerals unit rose 4% to $273.5-million. For the full year, profit in this segment leaped by 32% year-on-year to $47.9-million as improved prices, strong soda ash output and improved lithium operations more than offset the increasing-cost environment in Argentina.

Alkali chemicals revenues rose by 7% year-on-year on better pricing and higher volumes. Lithium sales, however, slipped by 3% owing to an unfavourable product mix.

FMC announced in September that it would sell its alkali chemicals unit and keep the lithium business separate under the name FMC Lithium.

Subsequently, the company noted this week that chemicals company Tronox would buy its alkali chemicals business for $1.64-billion. The transaction was expected to be completed in the current quarter.

FMC expected full-year 2015 earnings for the lithium unit would be between $15-million and $25-million in 2015, buoyed by potential higher lithium hydroxide and carbonate prices as demand for energy-storage applications continued to rise at double-digit rates.

However, reduced sourcing of lithium carbonate from third parties and weak butyllithium demand were expected to result in modestly lower revenues in 2015. Operational challenges in Argentina were also expected to continue to weigh on earnings for the lithium segment.

Despite FMC’s NYSE-listed stock trading sharply lower at the start of trade on Thursday, it clawed back 5.4% over Wednesday’s closing price, to close the day at $62.06 apiece.