ALRO registered a consolidated turnover of over RON 712 million in Q1 2020
Thu, 14/05/2020 - 08:38
- Higher sales volume of primary products by 3.7% YoY in Q1 2020;
- The downstream and upstream subsidiaries performed well with extruded products sales higher by 1,100 tonnes and almost doubled sales to external clients for the bauxite segment;
- Since mid-February, ALRO and its subsidiaries implemented comprehensive procedures and protocols within the production facilities for preventing infection with COVID-19 and thus ALRO is operating at normal parameters and has a fully operational supply chain;
- ALRO and its subsidiaries supported the local community and donated money to institutions such as Slatina and Tulcea Emergency County Hospitals, the Romanian Red Cross, or the International Romanian Association of Police, Olt.
Slatina, 14 May 2020 – ALRO S.A. (BVB: ALR, “the Company” or “ALRO”), one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers, by capacity, in Europe, announces today its consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2020. The Group’s turnover decreased to RON 712 million in Q1 2020 compared to RON 767 million in Q1 2019. ALRO Group registered a loss of RON 110 million in Q1 2020 (Q1 2019: net loss of RON 9 million).
"In the first three months of 2020, we faced exceptional times, in fact, a new reality, with the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic hitting all economies and industries. We took and continue to take swift and effective measures to mitigate the market downturn and, most importantly to secure the health and safety of our employees and the local community at large, while ensuring we operate at normal parameters”, said Marian NASTASE, Chairman of ALRO’s Board of Directors. “While advancing with our investment programme to reduce energy consumption rates and thus, the overall production costs, we continued the anti-crisis savings plan commenced before the world radically changed to optimize our operations and to ensure business continuity while managing down cycles”.
COVID-19 and Market Update
During the first quarter of 2020, the aluminium market continued its decreasing trend with the main drivers being the USA & China trade war, climate change policies and the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, lower demand in automotive and aluminium inventories build-up. Thus, from an LME average of 1,791 USD/tonne in 2019 due to a continuous downward trend the average LME for Q1 2020 was of 1,690 USD/tonne, less by 9.1% YoY and by 4% QoQ. Even though LME reached low levels in March and subsequently in April for 2020, such contraction of the quotations is not uncommon for the aluminium market. ALRO Group is constantly monitoring the aluminium price evolution and the COVID-19 worldwide crisis and is taking all the required measures to manage these down cycles as efficiently as possible.
From an incipient phase of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, ALRO implemented comprehensive protocols and procedures in coordination with the central and local authorities and with the observance of the World Health Organization’ recommendations for industrial sites. All employees received medical and protective supplies and equipment (i.e. face masks, gloves, overalls) and were instructed how to act to prevent their infection with COVID-19. All areas of the plant are permanently cleaned, sanitized and disinfected. The employees are required to periodically (frequency depends on the job area) declare their health status or any contact with potentially infected persons.
ALRO has implemented contingency plans simulating the case of one or more employees infected with COVID-19 and thus ensuring that the operations are not disrupted and the company remains fully operational and delivers on time.
At local level, the volatility of the energy market continued to impact the business. On May 11th 2020, the European Commission approved under EU State aid rules Romanian plans to partially compensate energy-intensive companies for higher electricity prices resulting from indirect emission costs under the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). The scheme will cover the period 2019-2020, with a provisional budget of approximately EUR 291 million (RON 1,397 million). The measure will benefit companies active in Romania in sectors facing significant electricity costs and which are particularly exposed to international competition, such as ALRO and several other companies from 15 Romanian industrial sectors and eight sub-sectors. The compensation will be granted through a partial refund of indirect ETS costs to eligible companies. Therefore, the scheme is supported directly from this mechanism implemented across the European Union and is not affecting the rest of the Romanian consumers.
Financial and Operational Review
In Q1 2020, ALRO Group continued its strategy of focusing on the production and sales of high and very high added value aluminium products, both in the primary and in the processed aluminium sectors. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that generated an unprecedented lockdown, most countries faced dysfunctionalities and temporary closedown of their economies and within the first industries affected was transportation with a direct impact on the automotive and aerospace sectors, the main markets for the very high added value products. The contraction on the processed products demand further seen in the sales volumes for Q1 2020 was partially offset by higher demand of primary products (especially wire rod which represents an essential component for public utilities sector), which showed higher levels by 3.7% YoY in Q1 2020 in volume terms compared to the similar period of 2019. Moreover, both extruded products and bauxite segment performed well and reported higher sales in volume terms.
To counteract the exceptional times faced in Q1 2020, which added even more pressure on the company’s operational results and turned it to report a negative EBITDA, the Group stayed on track with its previously implemented anti-crisis savings program started back in H2 2019 and continued in these times. Also, a major part of its investments except the maintenance CAPEX and of those compulsory from an environmental compliance and energy efficiency point of view had been postponed. The most important project continues to be in Q1 2020 the AP12LE, a new innovative technology for pot relining which is expected to generate even more reduced energy consumption rates. For 2020, ALRO plans to repair 75 pots out of which for 53 pots the AP12LE technology will be used; in Q1 2020, other 7 pots were repaired using AP12LE while another 12 pots are in a final stage. Until now, all the results obtained are according to plan and all the AP12LE pots are working within the expected parameters.
Moreover, in Q1 2020, the Group successfully managed to report a positive cash flow from operations, which generated RON 87 million, a higher level versus Q1 2019 of RON 61 million.
Strategic Actions and 2020 Programs Update
In 2020, ALRO continues to implement its anti-crisis savings plan started before COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and will keep its focus on optimizing its production facilities even at a more advanced level, to better react to the fast-evolving market requirements both in terms of supply and demand, while further reducing the overall internal consumption rates.
Due to the uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the global economy it is unclear at the moment which are the immediate and long-term effects over ALRO and its subsidiaries as it depends on how long and to what extent this situation will last. Both raw materials prices and overall demand are showing high volatility and these are expected to determine a decrease in earnings for 2020 which is too early and too uncertain to be predicted at the moment.
These financial results are available in a separate document on the Company's website, Investor Relations category, Reports section.
Figures for ALRO and ALRO Group included in this press release are reported based on the interim condensed consolidated financial statements of ALRO and its subsidiaries for the 3 months ended 31 March 2020, which are unaudited and have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim financial reporting as adopted by the European Union (EU). These accounting policies are in accordance with the Ministry of Public Finance Order no. 2844/2016, with subsequent amendments, which is in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopted by the European Union (EU), except for IAS 21 The effects of changes in foreign exchange rates regarding functional currency, except for the provisions of IAS 20 Accounting for Government Grants regarding the recognition of revenue from green certificates, except for the provisions of IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers regarding the revenue from taxes of connection to the distribution grid.
For further information, please contact:
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., 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 year.
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. The BET index thus included at that time 16 companies, which was a first time in the history of the local capital market, and it represented an unprecedented diversification of the sectors reflected by the index. ALRO’s shares have been listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since October 1997, and following this decision ALRO becomes the first company in the aluminium industry present in the two indices.