NICKEL Asia Corp. (NAC) posted a net loss of P89 million in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous year’s P131 million net income mainly attributed to the effects of COVID-19 to the business.
NAC suffered P261 million in market loss from the company’s portfolio investments as the spread of the pandemic profoundly affected markets globally.
The company reported a consolidated net loss of P10 million from its equity investments in Coral Bay Nickel Corp. and Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., slightly lower compared to the P25 million net loss in the same period last year.
Despite the worldwide disruption created by the pandemic, ore shipments remained at similar levels as NAC sold an aggregate 2.78 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore during the first quarter of the year as against 2.89 million WMT in the previous year.
The impact of higher ore prices during the first quarter also led to an 11-percent rise in total revenues hitting P2.21 billion from P2 billion last year.
NAC realized an average price of $5.80 per pound of payable nickel on its shipment of ore to the two HPAL plants compared to an average price of $5.56 per pound of payable nickel sold in 2019. On export sales, the company achieved an average price of $28.58 per WMT compared to $19.71 realized in the prior year.
On a combined basis, the average price received for sales of both ore exports and ore deliveries to the two plants in 2020 was $12.95 per WMT, higher than the $10.81 achieved in 2019.
“If we strip out the mark to market loss from the portfolio investments and, at the same time, take into account the challenges of COVID-19, earnings from the company’s operations actually improved year-on-year as evidenced by a higher EBITDA. In spite of this, we remain cautious for the rest of the year owing to the uncertainties prevailing in markets globally,” said Martin Antonio Zamora, NAC president and chief executive officer.
Zamora said in a statement the company’s Taganito and Taganaan mines have gradually re-started operations this month following almost one month of voluntary suspension.
