28th May 2015 07:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ferrexpo PLC Thursday said its profit halved in the first quarter of 2015 after revenue was impacted by lower iron ore prices and lower sales.
The iron ore miner operating in Ukraine said its pretax profit in the first quarter of 2015 halved to USD72.1 million compared to a USD145.0 million profit a year earlier as revenue plummeted to USD257.6 million from USD413.5 million.
Selling and distribution costs fell to USD57.1 million from USD91.0 million with general and administrative costs experiencing a slight fall, offset by other expenses almost doubling to USD9.6 million from USD5.4 million and finance costs increasing by over USD2.0 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 41% to USD112 million from USD190 million.
In the quarter, pellet production rose 2% year-on-year to 2.9 million tonnes from 2.8 million tonnes, boosted by higher grade 65% iron pellet production of 2.5 million tonnes from 1.4 million tonnes. However, total sales fell 2% to 2.8 million tonnes.
The company's cash cost in the quarter was significantly down year on year to USD33.2 per tonne compared to USD50.5 per tonne a year earlier. However, this was offset by lower prices with its 62% iron ore only achieving USD63 per tonne compared to USD120 per tonne.
Ferrexpo significantly cut its capital investment in the quarter to only USD12 million compared to USD78 million that was spent in the same period a year earlier.
Ferrexpo shares were down 1.7% to 70.75 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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