BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's K+S AG (DE:SDFGn) affirmed its rejection of a 7.9 billion euro ($8.80 billion) takeover proposal by Canada's Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (TO:POT), buoyed by stronger than expected quarterly earnings.
Second-quarter operating profit at the salt and fertilizer company jumped 14 percent to 179.2 million euros, beating a 168 million-euro consensus forecast in a Reuters poll.
K+S kept its forecast for significantly higher earnings and sales this year, guiding for full-year operating profit to increase to a range of 780-860 million euros from 641 million in 2014.
Higher prices and tailwind from the strong dollar may lift sales to between 4.35-4.55 billion euros, compared with 3.82 billion.
The anticipated profit gain "includes an initial estimate of the significant costs" K+S could incur as expenses as a result from Potash's bid which is worth 41 euros per share, K+S said.
The German group's management and supervisory boards "are extremely concerned that Potash appears to have no sustained interest in continuing the strategically, technically and financially linked fertilizer and salt activities in the current form," K+S said.