Alro has a USD 63 million Investment Budget for 2008

• The investments will focus on implementing state-of-the-art technology, in order to increase efficiency and consolidate the company’s position on the international aluminium market
• This year, the company has a USD 4 million program for work protection
• The investments in specific Corporate Social Responsibility projects will exceed USD 2.5 million in 2008

Slatina, 7 May, 2008 – Alro SA (BSE: ALR), the largest aluminium producer in Central and Eastern Europe, has an investment budget of over USD 63 million for this year, in technological and environmental projects. The company continues its strategy of costs control in order to increase efficiency and maintain competitive on the international markets.

“Our development strategy will continue to focus on increasing the output of high added-value products, as we see the demand is strong on the international markets”, said Marian Nastase,
Vice-President of the Board of Directors at Alro SA. “The company is further investing in best available technologies in order to remain efficient and be able to best take advantage of the aluminium demand. This strategy is also intended to maintain Alro competitive in a fluctuating market, with high aluminium price increase followed by significant decrease”.

Since the beginning of the year, the aluminium price on London Metal Exchange registered important fluctuations. At the beginning of the year, the aluminium was at USD 2,300/t, while in the first part of March it reached USD 3,200/t, and afterwards it decreased at USD 2,800-2,900/t.

Given the development strategy, investment program and international market conditions, Alro budgets a turnover of USD 861 million and a net profit of USD 150 million, in line with last year’s results.
In 2007, the company registered a net profit of approx. USD 180 million and a turnover of over USD 852 million. Last year, the production reached 283,000 tonnes of cast aluminium. In 2007, Alro invested over USD 60 million in environmental protection projects and in an upgrade of the processing facility.

For 2008, the company budgeted over USD 4 million investments in work safety, including USD 750,000 for work protection equipments, USD 400,000 for sanitary materials, USD 330,000 for work safety materials and USD 2.7 million for protection meals as per the requirements of the law. Alro has a continuous training program for its employees, this year investing USD 350,000 in workforce formation.

Alro also carries out its Corporate Social Responsibility program, having a budget of USD 2.5 million for specific projects, including health, education, sports and religion. The program for 2008 started with the donation of five ambulances fully equipped for emergency aid, for the Emergency Service in Slatina.