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April 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Incitec Pivot Ltd said on Tuesday it restarted production at its U.S. ammonia plant after a pipe rupture earlier this year had resulted in the release of hydrogen, sending shares to their highest since November 2018.
Incitec, the country's top fertiliser producer, said the downtime at the Waggaman ammonia plant in Louisiana will impact its earnings, and estimates a hit of $92 million to its net profit after tax, higher than an earlier forecast of between $68 million and $90 million.
The company said about 75% of the impact to earnings would be recorded in the financial results for the first half of fiscal 2022.
Incitec said it was currently working with insurers to process a claim, but added that its first-half financial results would not include adjustments for any potential insurance recoveries.
Incitec said https://investors.incitecpivot.com.au/static-files/92ef700a-5037-404f-994d-1191684ff310 in February it had a total retention amount of $40 million under its relevant insurance programme.
Shares of the company jumped as much as 4.3% in early trading to scale their highest level since Nov. 12, 2018.
The company saw strong performance from its Waggaman ammonia plant during the second half of fiscal 2021, pushing its net profit for the year up 21% to A$149.1 million ($109.62 million).
($1 = 1.3602 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)