Alro reports net profit of RON 79 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2012

Financial and operational highlights for the nine months ended 30 September 2012

• Turnover of RON 1.58 billion, as compared to RON 1.7 billion in 9M 2011
• Net profit of RON 79million, from RON 222.4million in 9M 2011
• Investments of RON 17.2 million in 9M 2012
• Primary aluminium production of 186,735 tonnes, as compared to 199,285 tonnes in the same period of 2011
• Processed aluminium production of 48,676 tonnes, as compared to 41,642 tonnes in 9M 2011

Slatina, 15 November 2012 – Alro SA (BSE: ALR) (“Alro”), the largest aluminium producer in Central and Eastern Europe, today announces its financial results, prepared in accordance with Romanian Accountancy Standards, for the nine months ended 30 September 2012. Alro reported a net profit of RON 78.8 million in 9M 2012, down RON 143.6 million compared to 9M 2011, and turnover of RON 1.58 billion in 9M 2012, slightly down from RON 1.7 billion registered in 9M 2011. Alro’s total primary aluminium production for 9M 2012 was down 12,550 tonnes in the respective period, reaching 186,735 tonnes, compared to 199,285 tonnes in 9M 2011. The total output of processed products in 9M 2012 increased by 7,034 tonnes, compared to 9M 2011, to 48,676 tonnes.     

“The results for the first nine months of 2012 are significantly impacted by the deterioration of the international aluminium market, leading to weaker demand and lower prices”, Marian Nastase, Vice President of the Board of Alro said.“Under these difficult market situation, Alro further implemented its long-term strategy, focusing on high added value products and adapting the output to the current realities. Moreover, we continued our investment programme to improve even further the products portfolio and quality.”

The aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell to as much as USD 1,800/tonne, in Q3 2012, compared to a low of USD 2,200/tonne, in 9M 2011. In the first nine months of this year, the highest aluminium price registered on LME was USD 500 lower per tonne of aluminium compared to the highest quotation from 9M 2011.

Moreover, Alro’s results were impacted by lower supply of electricity from the Company’s main supplier. As a result, for a part of H1 2012, Alro had to purchase a significant quantity of energy on the Day Ahead Market and from the Balancing Market, which typically incur high costs.

The Company also witnessed the insolvency declared by its main power supplier, Hidroelectrica. In this context, the two parties negotiated the contractual clauses and reached an agreement for 3 TWh/year of green energy until 2018, with a new pricing formula.

In the first nine months of 2012, Alro continued with its investment programme to improve the quality and range of its products, with the aim of increasing the competiveness of its processing plant. The Company spent as much as RON 17.2 million for investments in the first nine months of 2012.

Despite the difficult economic environment, Alro preserved the number of employees, at 2,513, in 9M 2012, as compared to 2510, in 9M 2011.

For further information please contact:

www.alro.ro

Florenta Ghita
Premium Communication
Bucharest
Phone +40 (0) 21 411 01 52
Email florenta.ghita@premiumpr.ro
 

Notes to the Editors:

Alro is subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., a global, vertically-integrated primary and processed aluminium producer. Alro is the largest aluminium producer in Central and Eastern Europe measured by volume with an installed production capacity of 265,000 tonnes per year.

The main markets for the aluminium manufactured by Alro are within the EU (Hungary, Poland, Greece, Germany and Romania). Alro also exports to the US and Asia. Alro is ISO 9001 certified for quality management and has NADCAP as well as EN 9100 certificates for aerospace production organizations. Alro’s products adhere to the quality standards for primary aluminium on the LME, as well as international standards for flat rolled products.

The contents of the website www.alro.ro are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.