NICKEL ASIA Corp. reported a 48% decrease in attributable net income for the first half of 2019, due to foreign exchange losses.
In a disclosure on Tuesday, the listed miner said earnings dropped to P713.75 million during the six-month period from P1.39 billion it booked in the same period last year.
Revenues went up 1.14% to P7.46 billion during the January to June period.
Nickel Asia attributed the earnings decline “primarily to the impact of a stronger peso relative to the US Dollar which resulted to a net foreign exchange loss of P198.8 million, a turnaround from a gain of P525.4 million recognized last year.”
The company said it incurred P81-million net loss from its equity investments in Coral Bay Nickel Corp. and Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. (THPAL) versus net earnings of P526 million last year due to lower nickel and cobalt prices.
The miner sold 9.08 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore during the January to June period, 2% up from last year’s 8.89 million WMT. Limonite ore deliveries also increased 10% to 4.41 million WMT, which offset the decline in ore export volumes by 4% to 4.67 million WMT.
“The Company realized an average of $5.56 per pound of payable nickel on its shipments of ore to the two THPAL plants, the pricing of which are linked to the LME [London Metal Exchange]. This compares to an average price of $6.27 per pound of payable nickel sold in 2018. With respect to export sales, the Company realized a higher average price of $20.70 per WMT compared to $18.77 per WMT in the prior year,” Nickel Asia said.
It noted the higher ore export price was due to increase in average nickel ore grade of 1.44% from 1.35% last year.
“Nickel ore shipments from Indonesia increased significantly in the first half of 2019 as compared to last year, dampening ore export prices. Nevertheless, we remain positive as to the outlook for LME nickel on the back of expectations of the stainless steel industry and the steep rise in electronic vehicle production over the next five years. The LME nickel-linked segment of our market accounts for close to 50% of our total shipments,” Martin Antonio G. Zamora, president of Nickel Asia, said in a statement. — VMPG
