Noble warns of Q4 and FY2015 losses

COMMODITY trader Noble Group on Tuesday warned that it will incur net losses for its fourth quarter and full year ended Dec 31, 2015.

This is due to a US$1.2 billion impairment hit, on top of losses recognised from the recent sale of joint venture Noble Agri.

The non-cash impairments and adjustments were due to assumptions - which Noble said was not in its base case - that coal prices will remain at lower levels for an extended period.

A conservative price of US$55 per tonne of thermal coal has been adopted, US$14 per tonne below the average market consensus price, Noble said. A similar process was undertaken for metallurgical coal.

Net asset value per share at end-2015 including these adjustments, and with Noble Americas Energy Solutions carried at cost, remains "in excess of S$0.70 a share", Noble said. This is down from net asset value of US$0.78 a share at end-September 2015.

Noble's share price has been rebounding in the past month from a low of S$0.265. It closed at S$0.37 on Monday.