Belgium’s Nyrstar Q3 core profit plunges 74%

Oct 30 – Belgium’s Nyrstar NV posted a 74 percent plunge in third-quarter core profit on Tuesday, hurt by lower zinc treatment charges, rising energy prices and higher operating charges at mining operations.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) came in at 13 million euros ($14.8 million) on revenues of 1.0 billion euros, the zinc and lead producer said.

For the nine-month period, underlying EBITDA dropped 17 percent from a year earlier to 134 million euros.

Last month, Nyrstar issued a profit warning, saying its second-half underlying EBITDA will be significantly lower than the first half while leaving the forecasts for production, capex and positive free cash flow unchanged.

It confirmed the free cash flow outlook on Tuesday.

($1 = 0.8789 euros)

(By Piotr Lipinski in Gdynia; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)