Last month the metals giant reported that its net profit for 2005 calculated to Russian Accounting Standards had risen 13.7% year-on-year to 58.159 billion rubles ($2.16 billion).
The world's largest producer of nickel and palladium posted its 2005 metals sales revenues at $7.169 billion, a 9% increase on the previous year, attributing the rise to diversification of company's sales and the favorable situation on the global metals market that increased prices for all the metals sold by the group, except for palladium.
Last year saw a 3% increase in nickel sales revenues, which stood at $3.67 billion accounting for 51% of the aggregate sales revenues. However, nickel sales (not including sales of refined metals purchased from third parties) fell 2% year-on-year to 244,000 metric tons, the company said.
Norilsk Nickel is included in the RUXX (Russian Industrial Leaders Index), a new composite economic index of Russian companies with financial instruments (shares and depository receipts) placed on major world trading floors, including the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and AMEX.
