Dry weather, which affects cropping and therefore demand for Nufarm's products, in northern Australia has hurt earnings over the past two years and sparked the company's big cost-cutting drive, announced earlier this year.

Mr Rathbone said the past year had been challenging but the last quarter showed signs of improvement.

"Nothing's ever perfect in farming, let's make that real clear," he said on Tuesday. "We've got some crops [in Australia] that look terrific. We need a bit more rain in the north before December, [but] we've got a better year on our hands now than we've had for the last two.

"We shouldn't get overexcited, but it is better."

Nufarm on Tuesday reported a 53 per cent drop in full-year statutory profit after tax to $37.7 million, after restructuring charges from the overhaul of its Australia and New Zealand businesses hit the bottom line.

Nufarm said in March it would cut 105 jobs in Australia, close its Lytton in Brisbane, and Welshpool, Western Australia, manufacturing plants and close six of its 13 regional service centres in a bid to create a more sustainable cost base in tough business conditions.

In April, Nufarm announced the closure of its Otahuhu facility in Auckland and the loss of 59 jobs in New Zealand.

Mr Rathbone said his team was committed to delivering the $16 million in annual savings targeted by the restructure by the end of the 2015-16 financial year.

"We can't have taken the write-off and not get the gains. We will deliver the gains," he said.

A review of the group's European manufacturing footprint is  under way and Nufarm is upgrading its Chicago Heights herbicide plant in the US as the efficiency drive gathers pace.

The company said it was confident it could achieve underlying growth in earnings before interest and tax and deliver a stronger balance sheet in the next year.

Investors have been concerned about the group's balance sheet and reacted positively to the news, with Nufarm shares soaring 11.9 per cent to $4.51 at 3.30pm (AEST).

Morgans analyst Belinda Moore said better-than-expected performance on working capital - which has been pressuring the balance sheet - was a catalyst for the share price.

"The highlight of the result was the material improvement in Nufarm's working capital position and consequently net debt at year end was significantly better than consensus estimates," she said.

Net working capital fell to $841.6 million, from $1.01 billion, and net debt fell to $513 million, from $633 million.

"It's a good outcome, but there's more to be done," Mr Rathbone said.

Nufarm said it was committed to cutting its net working capital to sales ratio to 40 per cent from the current level of 47.7 per cent within two years.

Executives are being incentivised based on the working capital target to help drive better management of inventory.

Nufarm has been building significant stocks of inventory to meet strong demand in its core growth market in South America, particularly Brazil.

Farmers in Brazil take, on average, about  200 days to pay Nufarm for its products, compared with 90 days elsewhere, although this is reducing and bad debt expense is very low at less than 0.5 per cent of sales.

Stripping out the $48.7 million of restructuring charges, Nufarm reported underlying profit of $86.4 million for the year ended July 31, a 4 per cent rise on last year.

Revenue rose 15 per cent to $2.62 billion, although adjusting for currency changes revenue rose just 7 per cent. Underlying EBIT rose 7 per cent to $200.6 million as dry conditions in Australia and a poor spring season in the US were offset by strong growth in South America.

Analyst consensus forecasts were for full-year EBIT of $202.9 million and statutory net profit of $37.8 million, according to S&P Capital IQ.

The company declared a final dividend, unfranked, of 5¢ a share.