Reuters
February 28, 2008 5:46pm EST
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's CVRD, one of the world's top three miners, posted on Thursday a fourth-quarter net profit of 4.4 billion reais ($2.6 billion), up 29 percent from 3.4 billion reais a year ago on higher output and iron ore prices.
Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(RIO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest iron ore producer, also said that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) -- a key measure of cash flow -- fell to 6.43 billion reais from 7.96 billion reais over the same period under Brazilian accounting rules.
Vale, which is in negotiations to buy Swiss-based rival Xstrata (XTA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in a possible deal that may be worth over $90 billion, also said in a statement its net profit for 2007 was a record 20 billion reais, 49 percent higher than in 2006.
Vale called its results "healthy, with low-risk debt".
Under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), Vale posted a forth-quarter profit of nearly $2.6 billion and EBITDA of $3.5 billion, up sharply from the year-ago's $1.6 billion and $2.6 billion respectively.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected, on average, a US GAAP net profit of around $2.3 billion and EBITDA of $3.9 billion for the fourth quarter.
Vale's net operating revenue dropped to 15.1 billion reais in the last quarter of 2007 from 16.3 billion a year earlier under Brazilian norms. But US GAAP net revenues effectively rose to nearly $8.2 billion from $7.3 billion a year before. ($1=1.67 reais)
(
Reporting by Andrei Khalip; editing by Carol Bishopric)
Source: Reuters
Brazil miner Vale 4th qtr profit up 29 percent
