Independence H1 profit plummets 99.7%

Nickel miner Independence Group's net profit has slumped 99.7 per cent to $123,000 as it takes a hit from falling commodity prices and a $9.1 million write down in listed investments.

For the six months to the end of December, Independence reported that profit from ordinary activities before related income tax expense had decreased by $51.9 million or 96.3 per cent to $1.9 million.

During the reporting period the nickel priced halved from $US29,172 per tonne to $US14,902/t.

The company has investments in a number of resource companies, including Matrix Metals which was placed into administration late last year due to lower copper prices.

Independence had earlier announced a write down of $7.1 million for Matrix.

Revenue for the period was down 50.1 per cent on the previous corresponding period to $44 million.

Basic earnings per share dropped from 32.86 cents to 0.11 cents.

Despite the substantially smaller profit, the directors have declared an interim dividend of two cents per share, saying it had enough in cash reserves to make the payments.

The company, which operates the Long nickel mine in Western Australia, had $113 million in cash and cash equivalents, down from $147.8 million from the prior corresponding period.

Shares in Independence fell 16 cents to $2.21 at 15:50 AEDT.