Inco's Q1 net profit falls 31%<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Publicly listed PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco) has
\nannounced a 31 percent drop of unaudited net income in this
\nyear's first quarter on higher production costs and shipping
\ndelays.<\/p>\n
The company, a local subsidiary of the world's second-largest
\nnickel producer Inco Ltd., said in a written statement recently
\nthat its net profit fell to US$50.9 million in the first three
\nmonths of 2005 from $73.4 million recorded in the same period a
\nyear earlier.<\/p>\n
Unit production cost rose by 28 percent in the three months
\nending on March 31 to $2.14 per pound from $1.67 per pound the
\nprevious year as the price of high sulfur fuel, which is used to
\nfire up the companies furnaces when hydropower is absent, climbed
\nto an average of $30.46 per barrel from $26.80, respectively.<\/p>\n
"With higher recent rainfall, reservoir dam levels at PT
\nInco's hydroelectric facilities are returning to normal," the
\ncompany's president and CEO Bing Tobing said.<\/p>\n
Sales declined 11 percent to $170.9 million in the quarter
\nfrom $191.9 million in the corresponding quarter of 2004 due to
\nslightly lower prices and a delay in shipments.<\/p>\n
"We expect the delayed March shipment to be made in late
\nApril," Bing said.<\/p>\n
Although Inco produced 38.1 million pounds of nickel in matte
\nin the year's first quarter, it sold only 32.7 million pounds. In
\nthe corresponding period last year, Inco produced and sold 36
\nmillion pounds of nickel in matte.<\/p>\n
The Sulawesi-based nickel producer assured that it remained on
\ntarget to achieve its production goal of 160 million pounds.<\/p>\n
Inco aims to boost its output capacity to 200 million pounds
\nof nickel matte by 2009 by constructing a 90-megawatt hydropower
\nplant in Karebbe, Southeast Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
The company currently operates a giant nickel mine in
\nSorowako, Southeast Sulawesi, with two dams to support the
\nexisting production process.<\/p>\n
The estimated cost for the four-year dam construction project
\nrose to up to $280 million from an initial $250 million due to
\nchanges in the site's geotechnical conditions and rising
\ncommodity prices, the company said.<\/p>\n
Inco paid $38.5 million of its debts in March, reducing its
\noutstanding loan balance of long-term debt to $76.9 million.<\/p>\n
It more than doubled its net profit last year as global nickel
\nprices skyrocketed to a 14-year high, driven mainly by growing
\ndemand from producers of stainless steel and other alloys in
\nChina and the U.S.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/incos-q1-net-profit-falls-31-1447893297",
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