Inco reports quadrupling of profit during 1994
Inco reports quadrupling of profit during 1994
JAKARTA (JP): PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco), a Canadian-Japanese-Indonesian joint mining venture, reported Saturday the quadrupling of its after-tax profit in 1994 due to the recovery of nickel prices on the world market.
Inco's after-tax profit surged to US$42 million or 17 U.S. cents per share last year from $10.9 million or four cents per share in 1993, a company executive, Martin H. Robinson, announced on Saturday.
He said that during the fourth quarter of last year alone, when nickel prices were high, Inco's profit reached $17.29 million (seven cents per share), as compared to $2.41 million (one cent per share) in the same period of 1993.
He explained that during the fourth quarter of last year, Inco's nickel in matte was marketed at $2.43 per pound, far higher than $1.70 per pound in the last quarter of 1993.
A recent press report said that nickel prices reached an average of $4.2 per pound at the London Metal Exchange last month.
Nickel prices topped at $6.27 per pound in 1988 and fell to their lowest level of $1.83 in September 1993 due to a worldwide economic recession.
From autumn 1993, nickel prices soared 160 percent to a peak of $10,500 per ton on the London Metal Exchange at the end of January, but fell back to $9,820 last week in line with profit- taking and the correction.
Robinson said Saturday that Inco's production increased sharply to a new record of 99.9 million pounds last year from 75.7 million pounds in 1993.
The company, which is owned by Inco Ltd. of Canada, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. of Japan, five other Japanese companies and the investing public, said that its sales also rose to 98.5 million pounds valued at $217.3 million last year from 78.9 million pounds worth $154.8 million in 1993.
Robinson also said that Inco's stock of nickel in matte was around 3.9 million pounds as of Dec. 31, 1994, as compared to 2.5 million pounds as of the end of 1993.
Inco produces nickel matte from its nickel mining operations at Soroako in southern Sulawesi. (fhp)