May 7, 2010

The Noble Group announced on May 6 that its net income increased by 27.7% to US$115 million for the first quarter that ended March 31 from US$90 million on-year.

The company reported record quarterly revenue of US$11.4 billion, up 86.8% from US$6.1 billion in the first quarter 2009. Noble said its higher revenue was led by its energy segment which has revenue increase to US$7.4 billion.

"We're beginning to see the positive impact from our investments. Our investment in Noble Petro, our US-based oil storage and terminal business has performed well," Chairman Richard Elman said. "In addition, our Timbues and Santos facilities came online in the quarter and will contribute to our business and financial performance over the year. Noble is increasingly well positioned to grow our bulk commodities businesses. Our grain, oil and gas, and coal and coke divisions all demonstrated strong results in the first quarter, and we look forward to continuing to make these areas our key growth engines."

Noble's tonnage volume was 42.9 million tonnes with significant increases reported in each of the group's largest bulk commodities like: grain, oil and gas.

The group's gross profit rose nearly 50% to US$332 million compared with US$223 million in the first quarter 2009. Energy segment gross profit tripled as did the contribution from metals, minerals and ores segment. The group's gross profit margin was 2.9%.