Nippon Mining Holdings Posts First Recurring Loss in 10 Years

Nippon Mining Holdings announced on Thursday the firm posted consolidated recurring loss of 67.4 billion yen for a full fiscal year ended in March 2009. The firm posted consolidated recurring loss for the first time in 10 years. The metal business unit (Nippon Mining & Metals Group) posted recurring profit of 28.5 billion yen for fiscal 2008, down by 74.9% from the previous fiscal year. For fiscal 2009, Nippon Mining Holdings estimates consolidated recurring profit at 115 billion yen.

The Group’s electrolytic copper sales decreased by 7% to 619,000 tonnes in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007. The sales decreased for both copper rolled products and electric cables due to economy deterioration. Copper selling price also declined compared with fiscal 2007 with higher yen exchange rate and lower offshore copper market. In addition, severe ore price terms impacted the profit because ore price was concluded when ore supply was tight.

Nippon Mining & Metals posted year-on-year lower profit for the environment & recycling business due to plunge of metal prices and low scrap collections. The firm was also suffered from low sales volume of copper foils, sputtering target materials for semiconductors, and copper rolled products along the demand drop for digital appliances in the second half of fiscal 2008.

Nippon Mining Holdings estimates lower revenue and higher profit for fiscal 2009 compared with fiscal 2008. The metal business unit is expected to post 30 billion yen recurring profit, up by 5.2% from fiscal 2008 thanks to the improvement of inventory evaluation and ore price terms.