Alba sales volume expands despite tough global market

Manama : Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) declared its first quarter  2016 results yesterday announcing that its sales volume increased by 1.4 per cent to 231,538 mt, compared to the same period last year.

Alba said it clocked a profit of BD4.2 million on sales of BD156.5m for the first quarter of 2016. The company  recorded a profit of BD37.2m on sales of BD206.6m in the first quarter of 2015.

The company’s top-line and earnings performance for the first quarter of 2016 were driven primarily by the collapse of aluminium prices. The cash-average price of every ton of aluminium has been down by 16pc to touch $1,515 in the reported quarter compared to the same period last year.  The quarter had also witnessed significant drop in global physical premiums.   

Commenting on the results, Chairman Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “Despite weak market sentiment coupled with low LME prices, Alba still recorded positive Net Income. Line 6 continues to gain momentum and we look forward to work with Bechtel who got recently appointed as EPCM contractor.” 

Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray said, “Alba was able to sustain its intrinsic financial performance in the face of very difficult market conditions thanks to the support of our dedicated workforce. We will continue to drive operational performance and ‘Doing more than necessary’ to bolster Alba’s performance despite the challenging market.”

The company had launched the second phase of its Project Titan in the last quarter, with the aim to streamline cash-cost by US$100 per mt and boost Alba’s production capacity to reach 1 million mt per annum by end of 2017. In 2016, the company will also continue its focus on safety initiatives and talent Management, it said in a release yesterday.

Alba’s Management will be holding a conference call today to discuss Alba’s financial performance for the first quarter of 2016 as well as outline the company’s priorities for the remainder of the year.