Norilsk Nickel has released its financial results for 2004, reporting a 31 per cent increase in its platinum sales revenue.

The company is not allowed to reveal data on the amount of pgms produced in Russia since they are state secret, although it can share information on the amount produced by its US subsidiary Stillwater Mining.

Consolidating Stillwater's sales for the full year rather than just a half year as in 2003, figures show that palladium sales revenue increased by 57 per cent to $1 billion, with platinum sales revenue reaching $706 million during the period ending December 31st 2004.

In total, Norilsk sold 202,000 ounces of platinum produced at Stillwater and 850,000 ounces of palladium.

The main shareholders in the firm are chief executive Mikhail Prokhorov and president of parent company Interros, Vladimir Potanin.