Noble Group's FY14 profit tumbles 46%; writes off US$200m for Yancoal

NOBLE Group's net profit in 2014 fell 46 per cent to US$132 million, despite a rise in revenue, as its losses on supply chain assets soared.

The largest commodities trader in Asia by sales saw revenue grow 4 per cent to US$85.8 billion, on volume growth from 187.2 million tonnes to 215 million tonnes.

But losses on supply chain assets rose six-fold to US$290.1 million, from US$46.2 million a year ago.

The group said that it had written off US$438 million for the year, including US$200 million for Yancoal, the valuation for which has been criticised by research firm Iceberg Research.

The research firm had questioned Noble's accounting treatment of certain subsidiaries and said that the group overstated the value of Yancoal by US$603 million.

Noble Group declared a dividend of US$0.007 for each share, compared with US$0.0091 in 2013.

Noble Group, which has halted trading of its shares after a second report by Iceberg, is expected to provide further details of its rebuttal against the research firm in a conference call later on Thursday evening.