Nickel Asia profit surges 370%

MANILA, Philippines - Listed miner Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) saw its net income surge 370 percent year-on-year in the January to September period due to higher shipment volumes as well as nickel prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, NAC said its attributable net income reached P8.18 billion as of end-September this year, well-above the P1.74 it earned billion in the same period last year.

The miner attributed the sharp rise in earnings to the uptick in shipments as well as nickel prices.

The company sold and delivered 14.26 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore from its four operating mines in the January to September period this year, up from the 10.32 million WMT sold in the same period in 2013.

Of the total volume of ore shipped, 4.79 million WMT was saprolite ore and 9.47 million WMT was limonite ore.

The surge in shipment volume was mainly the result of increased ore deliveries to Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. (THPAL), which was commissioned last year and is now on its first full year of operations.

Ore shipments to the plant from the company’s 65 percent-owned subsidiary, Taganito Mining Corp., climbed to 2.78 million WMT in the nine-month period this year from 0.27 million WMT in the comparable period last year.

Shipments of ore to China went up to 7.31 million WMT for the nine-month period this year from 6.62 million WMT last year, while shipments to Japan likewise increased to 1.56 million WMT as of end-September this year from 0.90 million WMT a year ago.

In terms of price, NAC realized an average of $7.87 per pound of payable nickel on its shipments of ore to the HPAL plants, with the pricing linked to the London Metal Exchange.

As for shipments to China and Japan, the company achieved an average value of $46.72 per WMT, much higher than the $20.96 per WMT in the same period last year.

Given the increase in shipment volume, the firm’s total cash operating costs and expenses grew 58 percent to P6.45 billion as of end-September from P4.09 billion in the comparable period last year.

Apart from the uptick in shipment volume and prices, NAC also recognized additional earnings of P401.9 million, representing its share of profits from THPAL, where the company has a 22.5 percent equity stake.

“We are delighted with our strong results for the first nine months of this year and our ability to build on the combination of higher prices and increased production to meet higher demand for our ore,” Nickel Asia president and chief executive officer Gerard H. Brimo said.