Despite the challenging business environment, ALRO registered a preliminary consolidated turnover of RON 2.5 billion in 2020

Fri, 02/26/2021 - 08:22
  • The comprehensive and effective measures implemented to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic maintained a continued flow of the Group’s operations and ensured the health and safety of the employees. More than RON 1,000,000 were donated to support authorities’ fight against COVID-19
  • A good performance of wire rod and of the quantitative sales of extruded products, despite the unfavourable context
  • The Group's strategy to reduce costs in 2020 paid-off and the anti-crisis program is on-going
  • The Company adheres to the best practices and guidelines as detailed in the aluminium roadmap to achieve climate neutrality targets and as a step forward, it became ASI (Aluminium Stewardship Initiative) member in 2020
  • In 2020, the investments were slowed down considering the new reality; however, the RTA project to further improve the energy efficiency continues and the results are in line with the initial estimations

Slatina, 26 February 2021 – ALRO S.A. (BSE: ALR, “the Company” or “ALRO”), one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers by production capacity, in Europe, announces today its preliminary consolidated financial results for the year 2020. The Group registered a turnover of RON 2.5 billion, down 9% YoY, an EBIT of RON 399 million, higher by RON 300 million compared to the previous year and a net profit of RON 329 million, compared to a net loss of RON 67 million, in 2019.

The international business environment has faced an unprecedented crisis, without any short-term or medium-term visibility and with changing circumstances from one day to the next. Despite this unfavourable context, ALRO Group managed to maintain all its operations running, worked together with its business partners and succeeded to keep sales and production at good levels”, said Marian NASTASE, Chairman of ALRO’s Board of Directors. “While we limited our investments to crucial projects and implemented an anti-crisis programme, we continued to follow our long-term strategy to focus on high and very high value-added products, and this helped us to partially offset the decrease in demand registered in the first part of 2020. But most importantly, we have considered our number one priority our employees and therefore we have implemented effective and comprehensive measures to mitigate COVID-19 effects”, added Marian NASTASE.

COVID – 19 and Market Update

In 2020, the average LME was down to 1,704 USD/tonne, compared to 2019 when it stood at 1,791 USD/tonne, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the entire economy until April – May 2020. Starting June 2020, the aluminium market gradually recovered with LME ALI prices increasing and exceeding 2,000 USD/tonne by the end of the year. Signs of recovery have started to be visible in Q4 2020, and the LME quotation progressively reached an average of 2,018 USD/tonne in December 2020. Thus, the LME average value gained 164 USD/tonne in Q4 2020 (1,916 USD/tonne) as compared to Q4 2019 when the average LME was 1,752 USD/tonne, with a record-price of 2,052 USD/tonne at the beginning of December and an average of 2,018 USD/tonne the same month, and with lower global aluminium inventories.

Under these challenging market conditions, ALRO Group implemented a plan focused at the operational level to reduce inventories, to decrease the acquisition prices in line with new reality, to reschedule the new investments, all with the aim to preserve cash within the Company, while at the workforce level, it implemented and carried out strict policies and measures programme to ensure the health and safety of the employees and their families.

As such, ALRO Group maintained all production facilities fully operational, thanks to the comprehensive safety measures carried out throughout 2020 and continued in 2021 as well.

Financial and Operational Review

The primary aluminium production was in line with the one registered in 2019 (a slight decrease of 3% versus last year), while the processed aluminium production decreased by 6% during the same period. Regarding the sales value, the primary aluminium decreased by 7%, while the processed aluminium registered a decrease of 8% in 2020, compared to 2019. As a result, in 2020, the Group’s sales decreased by 9%, to RON 2,514,716 thousand. However, with a cost of goods sold that stood at RON 2,521,548 thousand, the Group registered a preliminary gross loss of RON 6,832 thousand, compared to a gross profit of RON 227,016 thousand in 2019. The limited gross loss was a result of the anti-crisis programme implemented at the Group’s level, paired with lower raw material prices, except for electricity price, that continued its upward trend on the local market.

The Group registered, however, a net profit of RON 328,979 thousand, in 2020, compared to a net loss of RON 67,237 thousand, in 2019, as a result of the recognition of the EU-ETS compensation scheme for 2019 and 2020 and thanks to the measures the Group has implemented to optimize production and inventories.

The preliminary financial figures are not audited and do not include the results of the impairment test on investments in subsidiaries. Consequently, the final financial statements for the year 2020 may differ from these preliminary figures.

Despite the challenging market conditions, ALRO and the Group continued the investment programmes, albeit at a lower level, focusing on crucial energy efficiency and environmental protection projects, and supporting the manufacturing of high and very high value-added aluminium products. The Group upgraded 53 electrolysis pots based on AP12 LE technology (Aluminium Pechiney Low Energy), thus reducing the energy consumption.

Through the comprehensive set of measures implemented, the Group managed to partially mitigate the negative impact of the international crisis on the current activity and to remain operational in a very challenging international market. The sound business model helped ALRO renegotiate and extend in 2020 the working capital facilities both cash and non-cash with another three years, while maintaining the agreed repayment schedules for the term loans.

These preliminary financial results are available in a separate document on the Company's website, Investor Relations category, Reports section: http://www.alro.ro/en/reports and at the below link:

For further information, please contact:

www.alro.ro

Florența Ghiță

Bucharest

Phone: +40 744 644 004

Email: investor.relations@alro.ro 

Notes to the Editors: 

ALRO Group

The companies part of ALRO Group are: ALRO S.A. – manufacturer of aluminium, Alum S.A. – producer of alumina, Sierra Mineral Holdings I, Ltd. – bauxite mining, Vimetco Extrusion S.R.L. – extrusion business line, Conef S.A. – holding and management company, Global Aluminium Ltd. – holding company and Bauxite Marketing Ltd - marketing. Having this structure, the Group created an integrated production chain assuring the raw materials for ALRO.

ALRO

ALRO is a subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., (the Netherlands), a global, vertically-integrated primary and processed aluminium producer. ALRO is one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers, by capacity, in Europe, having an installed production capacity of 265,000 tonnes per annum of electrolytic aluminium, 35,000 tonnes per annum of recycled aluminium and 335,000 tonnes per annum primary cast aluminium.

The main market for ALRO products is represented by the European Union; the Company exports its products to the USA and Asia, as well. ALRO is ISO 9001 certified for quality management and has NADCAP and 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.

Starting from 18 March 2019, the Index Committee of the Bucharest Stock Exchange approved the inclusion of ALRO (code ALR) in BET, the main index of the market, and in BET-TR, the total return version of BET. ALRO’s shares have been listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since October 1997 and ALRO represents the first company in the aluminium industry present in these two indices.

Since 16 November 2020, ALRO is a member of ASI (Aluminium Stewardship Initiative), an international association that contributes to enhancing sustainability in the global aluminium sector.

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