Listed natural resources development company Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) reported a 26-percent decline in attributable net income for the first quarter of 2026, although the company said core earnings improved amid stronger nickel prices and continued expansion in its renewable energy business.
Attributable net income, net of minority interest, fell to P371.77 million in the three months ended March 31 from P501.03 million in the same period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined to P1.35 billion from P1.55 billion previously.
Nickel Asia said first-quarter earnings in 2025 included a one-time gain of P800.49 million from the sale of its 15.625-percent stake in Coral Bay Nickel Corp. Excluding the gain, the company said attributable net loss in the comparable quarter last year would have been P25.55 million, resulting in a significant year-on-year turnaround on a core earnings basis.
Revenues from the sale of saprolite and limonite ore rose 3 percent to P2.42 billion from P2.36 billion, despite a 9-percent decline in ore sales volume to 2.27 million wet metric tons from 2.48 million WMT a year earlier.
The weighted average ore price increased 10 percent year-on-year to $18.03 per WMT from $16.40 per WMT, while the average exchange rate realized from sales improved 2 percent to P59.19 per US dollar from P57.85.
Saprolite ore exports totaled 0.56 million WMT at an average price of $35.63 per WMT during the quarter, compared with 0.66 million WMT at $36.60 per WMT in the same period in 2025.
Meanwhile, limonite ore deliveries to the company’s affiliated high-pressure acid leach plants reached 1.71 million WMT, sold at an average realized price of $7.87 per pound of payable nickel, equivalent to $12.29 per WMT.
Nickel Asia’s renewable energy subsidiary, Emerging Power Inc. (EPI), recorded strong growth during the quarter. Generation rose 63 percent year-on-year to 95,831 megawatt-hours from 58,857 MWh, while EBITDA surged 130 percent to P267 million from P116 million.
The company attributed the increase to the additional 120-megawatt peak capacity from Phase 1 of the San Isidro solar project in Leyte, which began testing and commissioning in October 2025.
Nickel Asia said Phase 1 of the San Isidro project is on schedule to begin commercial operations this quarter, while Phase 2, with another 120-MWp capacity, is targeting testing and commissioning within the third quarter.
The company is also advancing other renewable energy projects, including the Botolan solar project in Zambales, the Subic-Cawag solar facility and the Nazareno solar project in Bataan.
In exploration, Cordillera Exploration Company Inc., NAC’s joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd., reported additional copper-gold and epithermal gold mineralization intercepts at the Cordon project in Isabela.
Nickel Asia also disclosed that it entered into an agreement on April 22 to acquire a 20-percent membership interest in Kazakhstan-based East Copper Production LLP, which owns GRK MLD LLP and the Karchiga copper mine.
The Karchiga mine, located within the Central Asian Copper Belt, has an annual production capacity of 8,500 tons of copper sulfide concentrate and 2,000 tons of copper cathode.
NAC President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Antonio G. Zamora said the company remained optimistic about the nickel market despite global economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.
“We are seeing a shift in nickel market fundamentals, driven largely by recent developments in Indonesia, including changes to benchmark pricing, tighter production quotas, alongside increasing input costs for HPAL operations, such as sulphur,” Zamora said.
“As our mining operations ramp-up in the second quarter, we remain confident in a stronger performance for the year, supported by the current strength in nickel prices,” he added.
