Soaring metals prices have helped the world's biggest explosives maker post record first half earnings, but the result has been dampened by a supplier outage.
Melbourne-based Orica said supply concerns for gold and copper - which were trading at record-high prices in recent months - had underpinned demand for its products, including blasting systems and chemicals for the mining industry.
"Clearly, there is some concern in the market about supply and reliability, and commodity prices are still very attractive," managing director and chief executive Sanjeev Gandhi said at an earnings call on Thursday.
Iron ore prices were also historically high, and coal prices have rebounded in recent months in the wake of the Persian Gulf energy crisis.
"Obviously, nobody wants to slow down production," Mr Gandhi said.
Orica made a net profit, excluding significant items, of $283.1 million in the first half, up eight per cent on 2025's equivalent half.
Underlying pre-tax earnings came in at $512 million, up five per cent for the six months ending March 31, on revenue of $3.9 billion.
That represented its highest underlying result in more than 20 years.
However, Orica's bottom-line figure was a statutory loss of $600,000, after it took a $283.7 million hit in significant items linked to an explosion at US ammonium nitrate supplier CF Industries in November.
The incident, and subsequent outage, forced Orica to to break its contracts with CF Industries, leading to a subsequent legal stoush and settlement costing Orica a cool $US169.5 million ($A234.1 million).
Supply shortfalls and related restructuring also weighed on the results.
So far, Orica had avoided supply issues affecting other companies due to the Middle East crisis.
"We are not directly experiencing any immediate material constraints related to the conflict in the Middle East, and our products are generally not transported to the Strait of Hormuz," Mr Gandhi said.
The Strait has been closed for weeks, as the US attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran, which was bombed by America in late February.
The crisis has negatively impacted multiple Australian-listed companies and driven up fuel prices, given that the shipping channel is a thoroughfare for about 20 per cent of the world's crude oil supplies.
Orica is also a significant consumer of gas, which it uses to make explosives.
Orica will pay shareholders an interim dividend of 28.5 cents per share, up 14 per cent from the same time last year.
The result beat market expectations, and investors responded in kind by sending its share price 6.6 per cent higher to 22.28.
"We view Orica's 1H26 result as positive as earnings per share was up 18 per cent on (the) previous calendar period and six per cent ahead of market," RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Wilson said in a research note.
Orica's medium-term outlook remained unchanged, and its focus was on maximising shareholder value, its chief executive said.
"Orica is executing well and is well-positioned for the future," Mr Gandhi said.
