Russian coal miner, Raspadskaya, said its 2008 net profit rose 121 percent to $531 million as the coking coal producer benefited from a strong performance in the first nine months of the year.
Full-year sales rose 53 percent to $1.2 billion, and its net profit margin was 44 percent, the company said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Raspadskaya, part-owned by steel maker Evraz Group, also reduced its net debt to $165 million at the end of 2008, down from $265 million at the end of 2007.
Raspadskaya is one of several Russian metals and mining companies struggling to preserve cash during the downturn.
The company also said that it would not make a final 2008 dividend payment.
In November, it recommended a nine-month interim dividend payment of 1.50 rubles per share, one-quarter of the 6 rubles that it said it would recommend in September.
Raspadskaya also reported that raw coal production reached 1.89 million tons in the first quarter, down 35 percent from a year earlier.
Coal concentrate sales were down 42 percent at 1.3 million tons.
"The global financial crisis and a drop in the output of the Russian steel industry affected our prices and sales volumes of coal concentrate as compared to the trouble-free 2008," it said in the statement.
SourcE: Moscow Times
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