Iluka Resources Ltd has narrowed its first half loss from $43.6 million last year to $6.6 million this year. Iluka, the world’s largest zircon producer, expects even higher earnings in the second half.
An increased demand from China and India is fueling its recovery from the global financial crisis which sent it plummeting into losses.
The revenue for the company has more than doubled to $424.1 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by a drastic 93.6% to $ 115.4 million. The fourfold increase in zircon sales has contributed to this fact.
The Managing Director of Iluka Resources David Robb said that a challenging major capital expenditure period for the company was now behind it. He hopes that the positive trend will probably continue and lead to free cashflow generation and lower debt in the second half of the year.
The Perth based company said that it was exploring options to better capture value from its royalty stream from BHP’s Mining Area C tenements in Western Australia as well. The formation of a royalty based company via an IPO and an in specie distribution to shareholders are both being considered by Iluka Resources as of now.