Nickel Asia Corp. said Thursday attributable net income in the first half dropped 36 percent to P1.12 billion, hurt by lower nickel prices due to a supply glut.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in the January-June period totaled P2.96 billion, down sharply from the P4.79 billion in the previous year.
Revenue from ore sales declined by 16 percent year-on-year to P7.79 billion. The impact of the lower nickel price was partially tempered by increased production from the company’s operating mines, whose combined sales volume increased 8.5 percent to 8.16 million wet metric tons.
The weighted average nickel ore sales price during the period dropped by 26 percent to USD16.60 per WMT from USD22.32 per WMT in the same period last year. The company realized an exchange rate of P57.50 per US dollar from these nickel ore sales, a 4 percent increase from P55.33 last year.
Nickel Asia exported 4.23 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore at an average price of USD21.95 per WMT, compared to 3.66 million WMT at USD28.22 per WMT in the same period last year. The company also delivered 3.93 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito high-pressure acid leach plants, with prices linked to the London Metal Exchange. The average price realized was USD7.94 per pound of payable nickel, equivalent to USD10.84 per WMT. This is compared to 3.86 million WMT at USD11.03 per pound, equivalent to USD16.72 per WMT last year.
Nickel Asia also reported losses from its combined equity share in investments in the two HPAL plants amounting to P388.20 million, a wider loss compared with the P77.07 million in losses in the prior year.
