Norilsk Nickel posts FY 2008 Net Loss of $555 million

Russian mining giant, Norilsk Nickel, has posted a FY 2008 Net Loss of $555 million under IFRS.

The net result is a sharp turnaround from the FY 2007 Net profit of $5.2 billion, with adjusted EBITDA also down 43% year on year to $5.8 billion, on the back of Revenues of $13.980 billion, down 18%.

The company attributed the slump in net result to the write down of $4.7 billion worth of assets and a $397 million foreign exchange hit.

The net result also reflected falls in prices and sales volumes for copper and nickel, which outweighed gains in prices for platinum group metals and gold. Over the year nickel sales declined by more than 40%, combining with a 42% slide in sales prices, with platinum sales rising 12% as prices rose 24%.