CF Industries Holdings 10-Q 2024-09-30

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2024

Commission file number 001-32597

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code): (847) 405-2400

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

174,019,929 shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share, were outstanding at October 28, 2024.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

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You should read the following discussion and analysis in conjunction with our annual consolidated financial statements and related notes and our discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations that were included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 22, 2024, as well as Item 1. Financial Statements in Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. All references to “CF Holdings,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “the Company” refer to CF Industries Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, except where the context makes clear that the reference is to CF Industries Holdings, Inc. only and not its subsidiaries. All references to “CF Industries” refer to CF Industries, Inc., a 100% owned subsidiary of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. References to tons refer to short tons, and references to tonnes refer to metric tons. Notes referenced in this discussion and analysis refer to the notes to our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements in Item 1. Financial Statements in Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The following is an outline of the discussion and analysis included herein:

• Overview of CF Holdings

*•*Market Conditions

*•*Financial Executive Summary

*•*Acquisition of Waggaman Ammonia Production Facility

*•*Items Affecting Comparability of Results

• Consolidated Results of Operations

*•*Operating Results by Business Segment

• Liquidity and Capital Resources

• Critical Accounting Estimates

*•*Recent Accounting Pronouncements

• Forward-Looking Statements

Overview of CF Holdings

Our Company

Our mission is to provide clean energy to feed and fuel the world sustainably. With our employees focused on safe and reliable operations, environmental stewardship, and disciplined capital and corporate management, we are on a path to decarbonize our ammonia production network – the world’s largest – to enable green and low-carbon hydrogen and nitrogen products for energy, fertilizer, emissions abatement, and other industrial activities. Our nitrogen manufacturing complexes in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, an extensive storage, transportation and distribution network in North America, and logistics capabilities enabling a global reach underpin our strategy to leverage our unique capabilities to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy. Our principal customers are cooperatives, independent fertilizer distributors, traders, wholesalers and industrial users. Our core product is anhydrous ammonia (ammonia), which contains 82% nitrogen and 18% hydrogen. Products derived from ammonia that are most often used as nitrogen fertilizers include granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) and ammonium nitrate (AN). AN is also used extensively by the commercial explosives industry as a component of explosives. Products derived from ammonia that are sold primarily to industrial customers include diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), urea liquor, nitric acid and aqua ammonia.

Our principal assets as of September 30, 2024 include:

• six U.S. manufacturing facilities located in Donaldsonville, Louisiana (the largest ammonia production complex in the world); Sergeant Bluff, Iowa (our Port Neal complex); Yazoo City, Mississippi; Claremore, Oklahoma (our Verdigris complex); Woodward, Oklahoma; and Waggaman, Louisiana. The Waggaman facility is wholly owned by us, and the other five U.S. manufacturing facilities are wholly owned directly or indirectly by CF Industries Nitrogen, LLC (CFN), of which we own approximately 89% and CHS Inc. (CHS) owns the remainder (see Note 14—Noncontrolling Interest for additional information on our strategic venture with CHS);

• two Canadian manufacturing facilities, located in Medicine Hat, Alberta (the largest ammonia production complex in Canada) and Courtright, Ontario;

*•*a United Kingdom manufacturing facility located in Billingham;

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

• an extensive system of terminals and associated transportation equipment located primarily in the Midwestern United States; and

• a 50% interest in Point Lisas Nitrogen Limited (PLNL), an ammonia production joint venture located in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad) that we account for under the equity method.

Our Strategy

At our core, CF Industries is a producer of ammonia. We use the Haber-Bosch process to fix atmospheric nitrogen with hydrogen from natural gas to produce anhydrous ammonia, whose chemical composition is NH3. We sell the ammonia itself or upgrade it to products such as granular urea, UAN and DEF. A majority of the ammonia and ammonia-derived products we manufacture are used as fertilizer, as the nitrogen content provides energy essential for crop growth. Other important uses of our products include emissions control.

Our strategy leverages our unique capabilities to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy. We believe this strategy builds upon our leadership in ammonia production to capture emerging opportunities to produce ammonia with a lower carbon intensity than that of ammonia produced through traditional processes. These opportunities include traditional applications in agriculture to help reduce the carbon footprint of food production and the life cycle carbon intensity of ethanol production, enabling production of sustainable aviation fuel, among other purposes. These opportunities also include new growth opportunities from energy-intensive industries, such as power generation and marine shipping, as ammonia represents an efficient mechanism to both ship and store hydrogen, as well as a clean energy fuel source in its own right as ammonia does not contain or emit carbon when combusted. Our strategy also strengthens our existing business.

We execute our strategy across four dimensions:

• decarbonizing our existing network to accelerate the availability of low-carbon ammonia and upgraded nitrogen products for traditional agricultural and industrial applications;

• evaluating new low-carbon ammonia capacity growth to supply emerging opportunities from power generation and marine shipping, among others;

• forging partnerships to accelerate our timeline, reducing risks and bridging gaps in areas where we do not have expertise; and

• collaborating to build understanding of ammonia’s clean energy capability, safety track record and regulatory environment.

Decarbonization projects in our existing network include our green ammonia project at our Donaldsonville, Louisiana, complex. Green ammonia refers to ammonia produced with hydrogen sourced from an electrolysis process that produces no carbon dioxide emissions. Commissioning of our green hydrogen production facility, consisting of a 20-megawatt alkaline water electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen, continues. At full electrolyzer capacity, we will be able to produce approximately 20,000 tons of green ammonia per year. At the time of its startup, we believe that the Donaldsonville green ammonia project will represent North America’s first commercial-scale green ammonia capacity. Under proposed regulations, the hydrogen produced and used in our green ammonia production is expected to qualify for tax credits under Section 45V of the Internal Revenue Code.

We are also advancing decarbonization projects at our Donaldsonville and Yazoo City complexes that leverage carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) to enable the production of low-carbon ammonia. Low-carbon ammonia is ammonia produced by conventional processes but with approximately 60-98% of the process and flue gas carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by ammonia production and currently emitted to the atmosphere removed through CCS. CCS requires the construction of CO2 dehydration and compression units to enable CO2 captured from the ammonia production process to be transported and sequestered. Construction of the dehydration and

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We are exposed to the impact of changes in commodity prices, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates.

Commodity Prices

Our gross margin, cash flows and estimates of future cash flows related to nitrogen-based products are sensitive not only to selling prices of our products, but also to changes in market prices of natural gas and other raw materials. A $1.00 per MMBtu change in the price of natural gas would change the cost to produce a ton of ammonia, granular urea, UAN (assuming a 32% nitrogen content), and AN by approximately $32, $22, $14 and $15, respectively.

Natural gas is the largest and most volatile component of the manufacturing cost for nitrogen-based products. At certain times, we have managed the risk of changes in natural gas prices through the use of derivative financial instruments. The derivative instruments that we may use for this purpose are primarily natural gas fixed price swaps, basis swaps and options. These derivatives settle using primarily a NYMEX futures price index, which represents the basis for fair value at any given time. The contracts represent anticipated natural gas needs for future periods and settlements are scheduled to coincide with anticipated natural gas purchases during those future periods. As of September 30, 2024, we had natural gas derivative contracts covering certain periods through March 2025.

As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, we had open derivative contracts for 17.5 million MMBtus and 49.0 million MMBtus, respectively. A $1.00 per MMBtu increase in the forward curve prices of natural gas at September 30, 2024 would result in a favorable change in the fair value of these derivative positions of approximately $17 million, and a $1.00 per MMBtu decrease in the forward curve prices of natural gas would change their fair value unfavorably by approximately $17 million.

From time to time, we may purchase nitrogen products on the open market to augment or replace production at our facilities.

Interest Rates

As of September 30, 2024, we had four series of senior notes totaling $3.00 billion of principal outstanding with maturity dates of December 1, 2026, March 15, 2034, June 1, 2043, and March 15, 2044. The senior notes have fixed interest rates. As of September 30, 2024, the carrying value and fair value of our senior notes was approximately $2.97 billion and $2.95 billion, respectively.

Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Agreement bear current market rates of interest plus a specified margin, and we are subject to interest rate risk on such borrowings. There were no borrowings outstanding under the Revolving Credit Agreement as of September 30, 2024, as of December 31, 2023, or during the nine months ended September 30, 2024.

Foreign Currency Exchange Rates

We are directly exposed to changes in the value of the Canadian dollar, the British pound and the euro. We generally do not maintain any exchange rate derivatives or hedges related to these currencies.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

(a) Disclosure Controls and Procedures. The Company’s management, with the participation of the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act)) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on such evaluation, the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that, as of the end of such period, the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are effective in (i) ensuring that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) ensuring that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

(b) Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. There have not been any changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended September 30, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS.

The following table sets forth share repurchases, on a trade date basis, for each of the three months of the quarter ended September 30, 2024.

(1)Average price paid per share of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF Holdings) common stock repurchased under the 2022 Share Repurchase Program, as defined below, is the execution price, excluding commissions paid to brokers and excise taxes.

(2)On November 2, 2022, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $3 billion of CF Holdings common stock, which is effective through December 31, 2025 (the 2022 Share Repurchase Program). This share repurchase program is discussed in Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Share Repurchase Programs in Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in Note 15—Stockholders’ Equity, in the Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 1. Financial Statements in Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

(3)Includes 26,027 shares withheld to pay strike price and employee tax obligations upon the exercise of nonqualified stock options and upon the lapse of restrictions on performance restricted stock units and restricted stock units.

(4)Includes 857 shares withheld to pay employee tax obligations upon the lapse of restrictions on performance restricted stock units and restricted stock units.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2024, there were no Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangements (as defined in Item 408(a) of Regulation S-K) or non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangements (as defined in Item 408(c) of Regulation S-K) adopted or terminated by any director or officer (as defined in Rule 16a-1(f) under the Exchange Act) of CF Industries Holdings, Inc.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

EXHIBIT INDEX

• Denotes management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.