Nickel Asia Corporation said that its net income amounted to PHP 1.48 billion in 2010, up by 388% YoY from PHP 302.9 million in 2009. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, NAC said that this translated to a net income per share of PHP 1.10 as against PHP 0.32 in 2009. NAC said that the higher earnings performance for 2010 was the result of improved nickel prices, combined with significantly higher sales of nickel ore. This enabled revenue to grow 78% to PHP 8.34 billion from the previous year's PHP 4.69 billion. NAC also declared cash dividends amounting to PHP 0.35 a share. The dividends are payable to common shareholders on record as of April 11th 2011. The payment date is May 9th 2011. EBITDA increased by 138% to PHP 4.26 billion from PHP 1.79 billion in the previous year. The company recognized foreign transaction losses of PHP 444.3 million in 2010 due to the strong peso. The company’s net attributable net income, excluding the effect of such foreign exchange losses, amounted to PHP 1.79 billion in 2010 or PHP 1.34 a share. Nickel ore sold and delivered from the company’s four operating mines reached 8.34 million wet metric tonnes as compared with 6.46 million wet metric tonnes in 2009. NAC said this was the highest volume of sales achieved by the group in its history. Mr Gerard H Brimo president & CEO of NAC said that "We are delighted by our much improved income level and the ability of our operations to rapidly respond to higher demand for our nickel ore." NAC said that the realized London Metal Exchange nickel price in 2010, applicable to the company’s shipments of ore to Japan's Pacific Metals Co Limited, averaged USD 9.60 a pound against USD 6.45 a pound in 2009. As of March 24th 2011, the LME spot nickel price stood at USD 12.31 a pound. With respect to the company's shipments of medium and low grade ore to customers in China, which were priced on a per WMT basis, the weighted average selling price in 2010 amounted to USD 18.32 a WMT compared to USD 12.72 in the previous year. Due to the increasing shipment volumes, total operating costs and expenses rose 28% to PHP 4.8 billion in 2010 from PHP 3.8 billion in 2009. However, on a per WMT of ore sold, the total costs and expenses decreased to PHP 570 from PHP 577 in 2009. Total excise taxes and royalties paid to the government amounted to PHP 395.1 million while current income tax expense on the basis of 2010's earnings was PHP 1.15 billion. The corresponding figures for the prior year were PHP 228.2 million and PHP 391.6 million, respectively. Nickel Asia also disclosed that the construction of the country’s second hydrometallurgical nickel processing plant, located adjacent to the company’s Taganito mining operations in Surigao del Norte, was proceeding on schedule with plant commissioning expected in mid-2013. In November l2010, the company made its full equity investment of PHP 4.4 billion in Taganito HPAL Nickel Corporation, the JV company undertaking the project, corresponding to Nickel Asia's 22.5% equity stake in the plant. The investment represented the bulk of the proceeds raised during the IPO concluded in November 2010. With respect to the outlook for the current year, Brimo said that all indications pointed to a higher nickel price in 2011 and a higher sales volume as well as demand for nickel ore remained strong. Mr Gerard H Brimo said that "While the ferronickel plant of our main buyer of saprolite ore Pamco has been affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the damage is not substantial and the plant is expected to restart operations within a couple of months. In the meantime, we have agreed with Pamco to divert shipments of ore to other buyers, so our sales volumes for the year will not be affected by this tragic event."

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