Nickel Asia profit drops by 26% on LME dip

Nickel Asia Corp. said its attributable net income (net of minority interests) dropped by 26 percent to P1.27 billion in the first six months from P1.73 billion a year ago due to lower metal prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Nickel Asia said the volume of its shipments grew by 19 percent but that the lower benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) prices drove net profit down.

The total volume of nickel ore sold and delivered from the company’s four operating mines in 2012 reached 5.02 million wet metric tons (WMT), up from 4.22 WMT in 2011.

Of the total volume of ore shipped during the first half, saprolite ore accounted for 1.7 million WMT while limonite ore accounted for 3.32 million WMT, of which 1.67 million WMT were shipped to the Coral Bay hydrometallurgical processing plant.

The corresponding figures for the same period in 2011 were 1.82 million WMT, 2.4 million WMT, and 1.31 million WMT, respectively.

The average realized exchange rate from January to June 2012 was P42.87 to the dollar.

The realized LME nickel price applicable to 2.37 million WMT of ore shipped in the first half averaged $8.60 per pound of payable nickel, as against $11.48 per pound in the same period last year.