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CF Industries Holdings , Inc. Reports First Quarter 2021 Net Earnings of $ 151 Million , EBITDA of $ 398 Million , Adjusted EBITDA of $ 398 Million CF cfindustries.q4ir.com/news-market-information/press-releases/news-details/2021/CF-Industries-Holdings-Inc.-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Net-Earnings-of-151-Million-EBITDA-of 398 - Million - Adjusted - EBITDA - of - 398 - Million / default.aspx Company Release - 5/5/2021 Rising Nitrogen Prices Supported by Increased Global Energy Spreads Positive Nitrogen Outlook Driven by Robust Demand Continued Progress on Clean Energy Initiatives Highlights • First quarter net earnings of $ 151 million ( 1 ) , or $ 0.70 per diluted share ; EBITDA ( 2 ) of $ 398 million ; adjusted EBITDA ( 2 ) of $ 398 million Trailing twelve month net cash from operating activities of $ 1.52 billion , free cash flow ( 3 ) of $ 1.05 billion Company completed redemption of remaining $ 250 million of Senior Secured Notes due December 2021 Engineering and procurement contract signed with thyssenkrupp for electrolysis plant to supply green hydrogen for green ammonia production at Donaldsonville " The CF team delivered solid results in the first quarter as increased global energy spreads and strong demand led to rising nitrogen prices , " said Tony Will , president and chief executive officer , CF Industries Holdings , Inc. " We experienced a number of unusual negative impacts from weather and other factors that created challenges during the quarter , but we navigated those issues successfully in a way that mitigated a potentially negative outcome . " Operations Overview The Company continues to operate safely and efficiently across its network . As of March 31 , 2021 , the 12 - month rolling average recordable incident rate was 0.28 incidents per 200,000 work hours , which is significantly better than industry benchmarks . Gross ammonia production for the first quarter of 2021 was approximately 2.5 million tons compared to 2.7 million tons for the first quarter of 2020. During the quarter , winter weather events in the United States disrupted the natural gas market , temporarily restricting the availability of natural gas into several of the Company's manufacturing complexes , which resulted in lower gross ammonia production . Plant outages generated higher costs for the Company related to fixed cost write - offs and higher maintenance expenses . The Company also experienced higher realized natural gas costs compared to the first quarter of 2020 . During the severe weather - related disruption of the natural gas market , management was informed that gas deliveries would be curtailed and force majeure gas shut - offs were likely at several of the Company's facilities . Facing imminent shut - down of several plants , management worked with its suppliers of natural gas to net settle certain gas contracts the Company had in place . The net settlement of the natural gas purchase contracts resulted in the Company receiving prevailing market prices for the natural gas , resulting in a gain of $ 112 million . Management expects gross ammonia production in 2021 will be approximately 9.5 - 10 million tons . This is lower than 2020 production due to a higher number of planned maintenance activities this year and knock - on plant outages from the forced February shut - downs due to natural gas availability issues . " I am particularly proud of the way the CF team responded to the challenging situation brought on by the lack of gas availability at our plants . This would have been an extremely costly event had the team not responded quickly , and effectively mitigated the higher costs and lost production we were facing , " said Will . First Quarter 2021 Financial Results Overview For the first quarter of 2021 , net earnings attributable to common stockholders were $ 151 million , or $ 0.70 per diluted share ; EBITDA was $ 398 million ; and adjusted EBITDA was $ 398 million . These results compare to first quarter 2020 net earnings attributable to common stockholders of $ 68 million , or $ 0.31 per diluted share ; EBITDA of $ 314 million ; and adjusted EBITDA of $ 318 million . Net sales in the first quarter of 2021 were $ 1.05 billion compared to $ 971 million in the first quarter of 2020. Average selling prices for the first quarter of 2021 were higher than the first quarter of 2020 across most segments due to decreased global supply availability as higher global energy costs drove lower global operating rates . Sales volumes in the first quarter of 2021 were lower than the first quarter of 2020 due to lower supply availability from lower production . Cost of sales for the first quarter of 2021 was essentially flat with the first quarter of 2020 on lower sales volume . In the first quarter of 2021 , the average cost of natural gas reflected in the Company's cost of sales was $ 3.22 per MMBtu ( 4 ) compared to the average cost of natural gas in cost of sales of $ 2.61 per MMBtu in the first quarter of 2020 due to higher natural gas costs in the United Kingdom as well as higher daily gas prices in North America due to severe winter weather . 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