Eramet Warns of Losses due to Nickel Slump

  • Tuesday, October 22, 2013
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  • Keywords:Eramet Nickel
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French mining group Eramet, hit by the slumping Nickel market, has warned of more losses and the need to reduce costs.
 
"The nickel sector is in overcapacity. It is impossible to predict when things will sort themselves out," an Eramet spokesman told AFP.
 
The warning came as the company posted a 5.0 per cent drop in third-quarter sales to 754 million euros ($A1.08 billion), mainly on slumping nickel prices.
 
For the first half of the year, the company posted a net loss of 32 million euros. The group had not floated an exact forecast for the year.
 
Sales fell nine per cent over the first nine months of the year.
 
Eramet said worldnickel prices had fallen by 15 per cent over July-October period and now averaged $US6.98 per pound for the year so far.
 
To face its problems, the group said it would push through new cost-cutting measures, slash back investment and scale back operations, but the group said it planned no restructuring program.
The company also said output at its main nickel mine in the France's Indian Ocean territory of New Caledonia was reduced by six per cent in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period last year.
 
On the Paris stock market on Monday, which was down by 0.31 per cent overall, Eramet shares lost 0.94 per cent to 67.36 euros in afternoon trade.
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