Nickel Asia profit surges 80% to ₱1B on high prices

Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC) reported an 80 percent surge in unaudited attributable net income to ₱1.05 billion in the first quarter of 2022 from the ₱584 million earned in the same period last year. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to ₱2.20 billion, a 30 percent increase compared to ₱1.69 billion in the prior year.

“The global nickel industry continues to labor under a record deficit – with an even larger projected deficit this year as compared to the previous year,” said NAC President and CEO Martin Antonio G. Zamora.

He added that, “Coupled with continued strong demand for stainless steel and the accelerating trend in demand in the electric vehicle market, these factors have been beneficial to our metals and mining business.”

Nickel ore sales volume decreased by 10 percent, from 2.65 million wet metric tons (WMT) in the first quarter last year to 2.39 million WMT in the same period this year.

However, revenue from the sale of nickel ore increased 17 percent year-on-year, from ₱2.85 billion in 2021 to ₱3.32 billion in 2022, as the weighted average realized price of ore sold increased 22 percent from $22.21 per WMT last year to $27.03 per WMT this year.

Breaking down the ore sales, NAC exported 651 thousand WMT of saprolite and limonite ore to Japanese and Chinese customers at the weighted average price of $46.90 per WMT in the first three months of the year, compared to 845 thousand WMT at $45.60 per WMT in the same period last year.

It also delivered 1.74 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL plants, the prices of which are linked to the LME, and realized an average price of $11.80 per pound of payable nickel. This compares to 1.81 million WMT at $7.96 per pound of payable nickel in 2021.