Nickel Asia Corp. said attributable net income (net of minority interests) in the first quarter of the year reached P377.5 million from a net loss of P300.8 million year-on-year on higher nickel prices and stronger US dollar.
The company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to P1.34 billion compared with P507.0 million on year.
Is said shipments of higher-value saprolite ore from its Rio Tuba and Taganito mines coupled with higher prices and lower losses from the company’s equity share in its investment in both the Coral Bay and Taganito processing plants contributed to the turnaround.
The company’s net share of losses on its 10-percent stake in each of the two plants amounted to just P10 million from a loss of P226 million last year.
Nickel Asia said the Rio Tuba and Taganito mines sold an aggregate 3.05 million wet metric tons of nickel ore in the first three months of the year from 3.49 million a year ago.
The Rio Tuba mine exported 908,000 WMT of saprolite ore and delivered 950,000 thousand WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay processing plant.
The Taganito mine, meanwhile, exported 156,000 WMT of saprolite ore and delivered 1.04 million WMT of limonite ore to the Taganito processing plant.
“Typically, the company experiences low shipment volumes during the first quarter of the year since operations at the Taganaan and Cagdianao mines, both located in northeastern Mindanao, do not commence until the second quarter, the onset of the dry season,” said Nickel Asia.
The company realized an average of $4.66 per pound of payable nickel on its shipments of ore to the two HPAL plants during the first three months of the year from an average price of $3.85 per pound a year ago.
Exports posted an average price of $31.34 per WMT, almost double the average selling price of $15.78 a year ago.
The average price received for sales of both saprolite and limonite ore in 2017 hit
$14.31 per WMT, up 58 percent from the prior year’s $9.03 per WMT.
“We are very pleased with our first quarter results despite the business challenges and tough market conditions we continue to face”, said Nickel Asia president and CEO Gerard Brimo.
“We will definitely build on this momentum as we now approach our peak shipment season which starts in the second quarter of the year,” he added.