Nickel Asia income up 1.5% in 2022

MANILA, Philippines — Nickel Asia Corp. saw a slight increase in net earnings last year as higher nickel ore prices offset the lower production.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Nickel Asia said it ended 2022 with a net income of P7.93 billion, up 1.5 percent from P7.81 billion a year earlier.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to P14.31 billion, slipping by 0.8 percent compared to PI4.42 billion in the prior year.

Nickel ore sales volume decreased by 11 percent to 15.94 million wet metric tons (WMT),

However, revenues rose to P28.03 billion from P27.40 billion as the weighted average realized price of ore sold slightly increased to $29.17 per WMT.

“Despite the inclement weather that affected our nickel mining business, 2022 remained a good year for NAC with prices for the metal buoyed by high demand. Our renewable energy business also made strides as it was able to increase its generational capacity and forge a partnership with an international player, Shell Investments B.V.,” NAC president and CEO Martin Antonio Zamora said.

“The gains we made in 2022 show that we remain committed to our ambitious 2025 target of becoming the premier ESG investment in the country and top 25 in market capitalization of the listed companies in the Philippine Stock Exchange. This year will be no different as we continue to build a strong foundation to achieve our goals,” he said.

In terms of sales, Nickel Asia said it exported 8.15 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore to Japanese and Chinese customers at the weighted average price of $39.39 per WMT.

The company also delivered 7.79 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) plants and realized an average price of $11.64 per pound of payable nickel based on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

In terms of volume and prices, last year’s figures were higher than the 7.14 million WMT at $8.35 per pound of payable nickel in 2021.

Deliveries to the two HPAL plants generated $18.72 and $12.03 in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Also due to high LME prices, Nickel Asia recognized a gain from its equity share in its investments in the two HPAL plants in the combined amount of P942.1 million in 2022, a 69 percent increase from P557.9 million a year earlier.

The realized peso to US dollar exchange rate for ore sales was P54.90 compared to P49.48 in the prior year.

Nickel Asia’s total operating cash cost was flat at P12.25 billion. On a per WMT of ore sold basis, total operating cash costs increased to P769 per WMT versus P683 per WMT in the previous year.

In another disclosure, Nickel Asia said it is securing an additional P2 billion loan from Security Bank Corp. (SBC) for Emerging Power Inc. (EPI).

This is after its board approved the execution of a suretyship agreement between Nickel Asia and SBC.

“This amends the previous authorization given to the company on 10 November 2022 to issue a guaranty in to secure the said loan in favor of EPI. As previously disclosed, the proceeds of the loan will be used to finance the Phase 4A (68MW) Subic solar power plant expansion of EPI’s solar power subsidiary, Jobin-SQM Inc. (JSI),” Nickel Asia said.

In September last year, EPI began the development and construction of an additional 68 MW in the Subic site, which is set to go online by the fourth quarter.