Nickel Asia posts strong H1 results, bullish on prospects

Nickel Asia Corp. posted a net income of P1.73 billion in the first half of 2011, more than double the P694.6 million recorded in the same period last year.

The company said in a statement that the strong earnings performance during the first half of 2011 was the result of higher nickel prices combined with higher sales of nickel ore, enabling sales to grow by 68 percent to P5.33 billion from P3.18 billion last year.

Total volume of nickel ore sold and delivered from the company’s four operating mines reached 4.22 million wet metric tons (WMT) in the first half of 2011, compared with 3.39 million WMT as of June 2010.

Nickel Asia’s first-half net income was also helped by a dividend income of P263.8 million from its 6 percent indirect affiliate, Coral Bay Nickel Corp.

“We are certainly reaping the benefits from our investment in downstream processing,” Nickel Asia president and CEO Gerard H. Brimo said. “The CBNC plant has been a great success and should meet its new annual capacity of 24,000 tons of contained nickel this year.”

Nickel Asia also disclosed that the construction of the country’s second hydrometallurgical nickel processing plant, where it has a direct 22.5 percent equity interest, remains on schedule.

With respect to the outlook for the rest of the year, Brimo said: “All indications point to the company achieving record shipment volumes for 2011 as demand for our nickel ore remains very strong.”