MOSCOW, April 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel's 2012 IFRS net profit fell 41 percent on the previous year to $2.143 billion, the company said on Monday, citing unfavorable market conditions.
That was below a consensus forecast of analysts polled by Prime news agency who expected the company’s net profit to reach $2.8 billion.
The result was “impacted by $976 million non-cash write-offs” resulting from the impairment of Inter RAO UES shares and other securities holdings ($525 million) and also the impairment of Norilsk Nickel International assets in Australia ($151 million) and Botswana ($110 million), the metals giant said in a statement.
The company’s 2012 revenue fell by 15 percent year-on-year to $12.065 billion “due to unfavorable pricing trends on metals produced by the company.” The average selling price of nickel fell 23 percent in 2012 to $17,719 per ton.
“Taking into account unfavorable macroeconomic environment in 2012, we consider the financial results of the Company to be decent. Norilsk Nickel continued to generate stable cash flow from its operations which provides for stable level of investments in its core businesses,” Norilsk Nickel Chief Financial Officer Sergei Malyshev was quoted as saying in the statement.
