Consolidated Minerals Ltd reported a 2007 first-half pretax profit of 14.8 mln aud after a loss of 12.9 mln in the second half of its 2006 fiscal year, adding that it is on track to continue its turnaround and growth.
The company posted sales revenue of 119.2 mln aud in the half-year to Dec 31 2006, against 110.6 mln in the previous six months as the company's nickel and manganese businesses recorded stronger revenue contributions.
'The second half outlook is encouraging and we are looking forward to capitalising on the current strength of commodity markets by continuing to strive to meet our production targets,' said managing director Rod Baxter.
'The recovery in our manganese earnings is under way with the stabilisation of the global manganese market following the price fall which adversely affected our results in FY06,' he added.
The company's manganese revenue grew by 8.0 pct to 63.7 mln aud, while EBITDA for the manganese division rose by 172.5 pct to 13.9 mln, reflecting increased prices and strong production volumes.
Nickel sales were up 19.2 pct to 30.4 mln aud, while EBITDA for the nickel division increased 10.6 pct to 11.5 mln. Chromite revenue was down 3.8 pct to 25.1 mln, reflecting marginally lower production, but EBITDA improved 42 pct to 9.8 mln.
The company reported first-half manganese production of 471,606 tonnes, up 8.4 pct; nickel production of 2,023 tonnes in line with the previous half; and chromite production of 126,015 tonnes, down 3.9 pct.
Consolidated Minerals also reinstated its interim dividend, which it set 1.75 cents.
In a separate release, the company said it has agreed to form a new Australian mid-tier mining company with units of Pallinghurst Resources and AMCI.
Consolidated Minerals shareholders will receive 1.38 aud a share and two shares in the new company for every 5 own shares. This values the company at an enterprise value of 625 mln aud or 2.28 aud a share, it said.
The company expects the proposed transaction to be completed in the second quarter of 2007.
The new company, which will continue to be named Consolidated Minerals Ltd and will be headquartered in Perth, Australia, will apply to be listed on ASX, AIM and FSE. newsdesk@afxnews.com tsm/jr/tsm/jr
Copyright AFX News Limited 2007
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