INCO's Q3 earnings rise 141%

JAKARTA: PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk (PT INCO) announced on Friday a 141 percent increase in its unaudited net earnings to US$28.2 million in the third quarter of the year from $11.7 million in the same period last year.

Net earnings for the first nine months of this year rose 165 percent to $65 million from $24.5 million in the corresponding period of 2002.

"We are very pleased with our results from both the financial and operational perspectives," president and chief executive officer (CEO), Bing R. Tobing, said in a statement.

Bing attributed the jump in the earnings to increases in output and the nickel price.

Nickel in matte production rose to 19,500 tons in the 2003 third quarter from 15,800 tons in the same period last year. Production of nickel in matte in the first nine months of this year was 52,900 tons, compared with 47,200 tons in the same period last year.

"We set a new quarterly production record of 19,500 tons of nickel in matte by maximizing the throughput of our processing plant," Bing said.

The company's realized price for nickel in matte averaged $7,037 per ton in the third quarter of the year, compared to $5,461 per ton in the year-ago period. --JP