Insurance settlement boosts profit at Compass Minerals

Compass Minerals Inc. on Monday reported a sharp increase in third-quarter profits, thanks to a big gain from an insurance settlement related to a 2011 tornado that damaged company operations in Canada.

The Overland Park-based seller of de-icing salt and other products, said its latest quarterly profit rose to $87.9 million from $15.4 million in the third quarter of 2013.

Compass said it recorded an $83.3 million gain during the quarter from the final insurance settlement after a tornado struck the company’s rock salt mine and evaporated-salt plant in Goderich, Ontario.

“The gain we reported from the Goderich tornado insurance settlement marks a full recovery of the insurable losses we incurred,” Fran Malecha, the company’s president and chief executive said in a statement.

Without the special item, Compass earned $27.3 million in the three months that ended Sept. 30.

Compass also said higher sales in its salt and plant nutrition businesses boosted overall quarterly sales to $240.5 million from $184.7 million in the same quarter last year.

For the first nine months of 2014, Compass earned $137.4 million compared with a $72.4 million profit in the same period a year earlier.

This story was originally published October 27, 2014 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Insurance settlement boosts profit at Compass Minerals."