* Q2 net profit $75 million vs $86 million forecast
* Q2 revenue down 22 percent to $1.2 billion
* Strike cost ICL $112 million in profit, $253 million in
sales
* Shares up 1 percent in early New York trading
(Adds CEO comments, share reaction)
By Steven Scheer
JERUSALEM, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Israel Chemicals (ICL)
ICL.TA expects to bounce back in the second half of the year
after reporting a smaller than expected rise in quarterly profit
as a result of a strike over job cuts that sent revenue down 22
percent.
The company was also hopeful that a government plan to levy
taxes on mining activities would be scrapped or watered down.
ICL ICL.N , which has exclusive permits to extract minerals
from the Dead Sea, said on Wednesday it earned $75 million in
the second quarter, compared with $68 million a year earlier.
Revenue dipped to $1.20 billion from $1.54 billion.
The company, one of the three largest suppliers of the crop
nutrient potash to China, India and Europe, was expected to make
a net profit of $86 million on revenue of $1.26 billion,
according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
A strike protesting planned layoffs between February and May
at ICL's bromine and potash plants at the Dead Sea wiped off
$253 million in sales and $112 million from net profit in the
second quarter, ICL said, adding that the impact was less than
it had anticipated. ID:nL5N0YJ4NP
After the strike ended and paved the way for more than 100
employees to take early retirement, potash production was
expanded and has now reached pre-strike levels. ICL expects
sales to return to normal in the third quarter.
"The ramp-up after the strike both in potash and in bromine
and bromine compounds is going better than expected," Chief
Executive Stefan Borgas told a conference call of analysts,
saying there have so far been no equipment breakdowns that could
have occurred after a long outage.
Its Dead Sea plants are producing at record levels and by
the fourth quarter should be producing at a rate of 4 million
tonnes a year, Borgas said, adding that it has increased potash
output at its UK plant.
In June, ICL signed a deal to supply 835,000 tonnes of
potash to its customers in India at a selling price of $10 per
tonne above previous contracts.
ICL, controlled by conglomerate Israel Corp ILCO.TA ,
declared a dividend for the second quarter of $52.5 million.
It is currently locked in a battle with the Israeli
government over a plan to tax mining companies aimed at boosting
state coffers by 500 million shekels ($131 million) a year. In
protest, ICL has frozen or put under review nearly $2 billion in
domestic projects, while expanding activities outside Israel.
While there have been no decisions yet, "the entire
discussion atmosphere is becoming quite positive," Borgas said.
ICL's New York-listed shares were 1 percent higher at $6.54
in early trade but they are 10 percent lower so far in 2015.
($1 = 3.8141 shekels)