Noble takes $1.2bn impairment charge

摘要

Hong Kong-based trading firm Noble will take a $1.2bn impairment charge in the fourth quarter, and warned it will report a loss for the period and 2015 as a whole, because of a slump in prices of coal and other commodities. The warning comes ahead of the firm’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results announcement on 25 February. “Since September 2015 a number of factors have contributed to the lowering of long-term consensus prices for coal and other commodities,” Noble said. “Firstly, crude prices have fallen by almost 40pc over a very short period of time. Crude, besides being the benchmark for the energy sector, is also a key driver of the cost curves for coal miners via their consumption of fuel.”