William Doyle
Management
Thank you for joining us for this discussion of PotashCorp’s second quarter performance. This is an exciting time, not just because we completed another record quarter but more importantly because of the potential this gives us to build an even stronger company going forward. Our second quarter established a new standard of performance for PotashCorp as we benefited from continuing demand growth and higher prices. Our earnings of $2.82 per diluted share were more than triple the earnings in last year’s second quarter which were a record for our company at that time and more than 60% higher than our first-quarter earnings, which were a best-ever result at that time. Our gross margin of $1.4 billion was an increase of 187% over the same period last year, with all three nutrients making record contributions. Through the first six months of 2008 we have already surpassed the full-year earnings and gross margin records set in all of 2007. This will be the fifth consecutive year of record earnings for our company and we plan to raise the bar as we move forward. Our cash flow and EBITDA each topped $1 billion for the quarter, giving us tremendous flexibility in preparing for the future needs for fertilizer from the world farming community. We see the potential that this holds and believe the records we are setting today are only the beginning. The long-term fundamentals that underpin our success are very clear and show no signs of abating. Global population continues to grow. China, India and other developing countries continue to gain economic strength and their people increasingly want to buy more food and better food. For farmers to increase grain production, they must optimize their use of fertilizer. The need is more acute in offshore markets, where fertilizer, particularly potash, has been…