Norilsk Nickel could net $5 bln, pay $6 a share for 2006
Source: Interfax
metalsplace.com
TAMPA, Florida. Feb 26 – MMC Norilsk Nickel could see net profit to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) of $5 billion for 2006 and pay up to $6 per share in dividends for the year, including interim dividends, Tav Morgan, the Arctic mining and smelting giant's deputy general director, said at a conference in Florida.
Morgan said the dividends would be approved at the annual shareholders' meeting, but that the company expected that the dividend could be $6 a share, based on potential net profit of $5 billion.
Norilsk Nickel's policy is to pay 20%-25% of its IFRS net profit in dividends. The board of directors usually makes its dividend recommendation in the spring.
The company paid interim dividends of 56 rubles a share or 10.63 billion rubles in total for January-September 2006.
It paid 96.49 rubles a share for 2005, including interim dividends.
Vladimir Potanin, head of the Interros holding, and Mikhail Prokhorov, Norilsk Nickel's general director, are the company's biggest shareholders.
Net profit soared 140% year-on-year in the first half of 2006 to $2.367 billion, bolstered by income of $993 million from the sale of 20% of the shares in South Africa's Gold Fields. Revenue from the sale of metals grew 28% to $4.191 billion on the back of higher metal prices.
Norilsk Nickel produces around 20% of the world's nickel, just over 10% of its cobalt, 3.1% of its copper and a significant amount of its platinum and palladium. |
