Nornickel's first-half net profit up 2% to $842 million

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian metals producer Nornickel said on Monday its net profit for the first six months of 2025 rose 2% to $842 million, helped by a reduction in accumulated inventories.

Revenues at Nornickel, a major producer of refined nickel and palladium, increased 15% to $6.46 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 12% to $2.63 billion, it said.

"The company’s financial performance improved somewhat, despite mixed performance of commodity prices and unfavourable forex movements," CEO Vladimir Potanin said in a statement.

"As our logistics were further adjusted, management was able to reduce accumulated inventories, while keeping the increase in cash operating costs below the inflation rate," Potanin added.

Nornickel's shares were up 1.1% on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

Potanin noted the company raised $2.4 billion using instruments denominated in U.S. dollars and China's yuan and increased investment by 15% to $1.1 billion.

He added that the company was developing digital and artificial intelligence tools, estimating their contribution to the company's annual EBITDA at $100 million.

While Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine, the measures have prompted some producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments, and restricted access to Western equipment.

Nornickel's net profit fell 37% in 2024 as Western sanctions and low metals prices squeezed earnings.

The company said that improved logistics in the first half of the year enabled it to sell off stocks of metals. It added that the start of interest rate cutting by Russia's central bank would lower debt servicing costs.

(Writing by Gleb Bryanski, Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)