Listed Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) said its net income in the first quarter reached P970 million, some 8 percent lower than the P1.05 billion recorded a year ago.
The company said in a statement that foreign exchange losses of P202 million attributed to NAC’s financial assets contributed to the decline in its profits during the period.
Meanwhile, revenues rose by 5.7 percent to P3.51 billion from P3.32 billion in the same period last year, driven by the combination of favorable exchange rates and better prices on ore export sales.
Operating mines sold a combined 2.39 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore, which remained stable compared to the same period the year prior.
“We remain bullish on the nickel sector. Despite the current nickel surplus resulting from the ramp-up in Indonesian nickel production, the accelerating pace of electric vehicle adoption, evidenced by the 25 percent year-on-year increase in electric car sales for the first quarter of 2023, will continue to be the main driver of the nickel sector over the long-term,” Martin Antonio Zamora, president and CEO of NAC, said.
The company has exported 604,000 WMT of saprolite and limonite ore at the average price of $50.37/WMT during the period against 651,000 WMT at $47.48/WMT from the previous year, he said.
“Additionally, the company delivered 1.79 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito high pressure acid leach [HPAL] plants, realizing an average price of $11.98 per pound of payable nickel for this quarter,” Zamora said.
This compares to 1.74 million WMT at $11.80 per pound of payable nickel in the same period of the previous year.
However, the average price for the deliveries to the HPAL plants fell to $18.84/WMT from $19.58/WMT a year ago because of weaker cobalt prices.
As a result, the weighted average nickel ore sales price during the period declined by 1.4 percent to $26.80/WMT from $27.19/WMT last year.
The company has realized P54.80 per dollar from nickel ore sales, a 6.4-percent increase from P51.51 year-on-year.
The group’s consolidated Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization reached P2.21 billion, relatively unchanged from the same period last year.
NAC also recognized gains from its equity interests in the two HPAL plants in the combined amount of P252 million against P305 million the year prior.