Jordan Phosphate Mines to raise capital to JD82.5m

AMMAN — Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) will be raising capital by 10 per cent to JD82.5 million as authorised by shareholders during an extraordinary general assembly meeting last week.

The company will be capitalising JD7.5 million of retained earnings and distributing it as bonus shares to shareholders. 

The general assembly also raised the limit that the company can borrow to four times the authorised and paid-up capital instead of three times.

JPMC Chairman Amer Majali told the shareholders that the company last year achieved the targeted level, with operational profit at some JD62 million, compared to JD50.2 million in 2014, while the net profit reached JD34.6 million, compared to JD20.9 million in 2014.

According to the financial results, net sales in 2015 amounted to JD750.2 million, compared to JD738.4 million in 2014, assets totalled JD1.2 billion and shareholders equity increased by 4.4 per cent to JD818.2 million.

JPMC in 2015 reached operational stability in terms of  production and export plans, said the chairman, indicating that phosphate sales in 2015 stood at 8.2 million tonnes, 4.8 million tonnes of which were exported, the highest since 2011, while in 2014, sales reached 7.3 million tonnes, 4.3 million tonnes of which were sold abroad. 

The company in 2015 sold 318,000 tonnes of fertilisers, down from 646,000 tonnes the year before, he added, noting that JPMC increased the sales of phosphoric acid at the expense of fertilisers through following a flexible marketing policy based on demand.

Despite the challenges in the industry of fertilisers and phosphate and the ups and downs in international markets, the company has been achieving a remarkable growth in operational processes and total profit, Majali continued. 

The mining sector faced many challenges in 2015, the chairman elaborated, referring to the drop in prices of phosphate and fertilisers by 25 to 30 per cent, especially in the second half of that year.

Other difficulties included a decline in international demand, an increase on the income tax imposed on mining from 14 to 24 per cent and deducting some financial allocations for the death and compensation fund.