Brazil Miner Vale 2008 Revenue Up 16.3% To Record $38.509 Billion

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RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
(RIO), or Vale, said Thursday it achieved record operating revenue of $38.509
billion in 2008, up 16.3% on the previous year.


The increase was due to higher product prices, which contributed 91.4%, or $
4.932 billion, of the $5.394 billion increase, Vale said in a statement


Higher volume sales added $462 million, Vale said.


Vale's net profit rose to $13.218 billion in 2008 from $11.825 billion in the
previous year.


"In spite of the large downward volatility in mining equity prices during the
second half of 2008, Vale preserved the global leadership in shareholder value
creation amongst big diversified mining companies, with a total shareholder
return of 23.1% per year over the last five years," the company said.


Vale's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or
Ebitda, jumped to $19.018 billion last year, compared with $15.774 billion in
2007.


Ebitda margin, a key measure of profitability, rose slightly to 41.9% from
40.9%.


Vale said eight of its products reached all-time high volumes of shipments in
2008. The most important was iron ore with 264 million metric tons, followed by
nickel with 276,000 tons, copper with 320,000 tons, aluminum with 4.2 million
tons and coal at 4.1 million tons.