Fortress Minerals has reported earnings of US$695,798 ($952,223.92) for the 3QFY2025 ended Nov 30, 2024, 70.1% lower y-o-y.
This brings the company’s 9MFY2025 earnings to $7.5 million, 20.7% lower y-o-y.
For the 3QFY2025, revenue rose by 19.6% y-o-y to US$13 million due to higher volumes sold. During the period, sales volumes rose by 19.6% y-o-y to 138,878 dry metric tonnes (DMT) with an average realised selling price of US$93.88 per DMT, 0.5% higher y-o-y. The average unit cost during the three-month period also increased by 29.6% y-o-y to US$37.58 per wet metric tonne (WMT).
However, 3QFY2025 cost of sales, which increased by 54.7% y-o-y to US$5.7 million, eroded gross profit margins.
3QFY2025 gross profit inched up by 1.4% y-o-y to US$7.3 million while gross profit margin fell by 10.1 percentage points y-o-y to 55.8%.
Other income fell by 79.6% y-o-y to US$113,000 mainly from the decrease in unrealised gain on foreign exchange differences by US$0.4 million. The decrease was due to the weakening of exchange rate movement of the ringgit against the US dollar (USD).
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9MFY2025 revenue fell by 7.6% y-o-y to US$38.3 million due to the lower average realised selling price for the period. Sales volumes fell by 4.4% y-o-y to 410,049 while the average realised selling price fell by 3.3% y-o-y to US$93.23 per DMT. Average unit cost for the period fell by 1.2% y-o-y to US$30.44 per WMT.
Despite the lower cost of sales, which fell by 6.2% y-o-y to US$13.6 million, 9MFY2025 gross profit fell by 8.3% y-o-y to US$24.7 million. Gross profit margin for the 9MFY2025 dipped by 0.5 percentage points y-o-y to 64.4%.
Other income, on the other hand, more than doubled to US$1.4 million from US$703,000.
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Fortress Minerals’ ebitda for the 3QFY2025 and 9MFY2025 stood at US$3.1 million and US$14.4 million respectively.
"There remains strong demand for our high-grade iron ore products amidst long-term decarbonisation trends in the steel industry. We continue to enhance our production at Bukit Besi mine while working towards the development of our integrated processing plant at CASB mine to meet this demand,” says Ivan Chee, executive director and CEO of Fortress Minerals .
“This includes optimising our production capabilities, particularly with the upcoming commissioning of our new crushing and processing plants and the development of key deposits at Bukit Besi mine,” he adds.
In its outlook statement, the company says it is “well-positioned to meet the growing demand for high-grade magnetite iron ore” on the back of domestic demand, regional steel production and global decarbonisation efforts within the industry.
Shares in Fortress Minerals closed 1 cent lower or 4.17% down at 23 cents on Jan 9.
