BENGUET Corp. was back in the black in the second quarter as it bounced back from last year’s loss even as revenues went down.
In a disclosure, the firm said its consolidated net income for the second quarter amounted to P28.1 million, a turnaround from the net loss of P86.3 million it registered in the same period last year. This put the company’s first half profit at P9.5 million from a loss of P31.3 million in the comparable year-ago period.
This, even as consolidated revenues during the second quarter dropped to P497.3 million from P516.5 million a year ago.
“The negative variance is due to decline in nickel revenue partly offset by increase in gold revenue,” it said in a statement. It attributed the drop in nickel revenues to the suspension of its Benguetcorp Nickel Mines, Inc. (BNMI) in Sta. Cruz Zambales.
In the first half, BNMI shipped six boatloads of nickel ore for a total volume of 326,710 tons at an average price of $21.50 per ton versus 15 boatloads with an aggregate volume of 1.28 million tons for of $24.82/ton on average in 2016.
Meanwhile, gold sales at its Acupan Gold Project climbed to P329.4 million from P242.5 million last year as production rose 25% to 1,058 ounces and prices rose to $1,242.13 per ounce from $1,217.67/ounce in 2016. — JCL
