Norway-based fertilizer producer Yara's adjusted EBITDA declined by more than 30% to Norwegian krone (NOK) 8.8 billion in the first nine months of 2017 in comparison with the equivalent period in 2016, pressured by the low cycle conditions in the fertilizer industry, higher cost of natural gas in Europe, and weaker U.S. dollar. We forecast that the combination of weaker profits at Yara and ongoing high investments in strategic capacity expansions will lead to adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt of about 40% in 2017, down from about 63% in 2016. At the same time, we anticipate that Yara's adjusted FFO to debt will remain at a stable level of 39%-43% in 2018 as the company benefits from its
