The evolution on international markets helped the company to end the first quarter of 2021 with a positive EBITDA of RON33.5 million, compared with a negative level of RON30.6 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Alro also continued the investment program aimed at reducing the energy consumption and total production costs, together with the implementation of the plan aimed at increasing savings and optimizing operations.
In 1Q/2021, the demand on international markets was stable, backed by good performance in the automotive and construction sectors, by the limited supply, by EU’s antidumping tariffs levied on extruded products from China and announced for laminated flat products made in China, as well as by the fact that end users started to rebuild stocks, Alro said in its financial report.
In Q1/2021, Alro Group recorded a positive gross result in amount of RON64.9 million, compared with a gross loss of RON2.8 million in the same period in 2020as a result of the positive evolution of the aluminium price and the increase of aluminium demand on the market and thanks to lower costs. A significant influence in the Group’s net result was the net loss from exchange rate differences.
The company continued investments in equipment upgrades, despite the challenges faced by the suppliers involved in this complex project.
Vimetco Extrusion will invest nearly EUR10 million in a new aluminium profile extruding line, a project expected to be put into operation until September 2022.
Alro Slatina is majority owned by Russian group Vimetco (54.18%), while Paval Holding owns 23.21% and Fondul Proprietatea owns 10.2%.
Alro shares have been trading up 46% since the beginning of 2021, amid deals worth RON30.5 million. Alro has a market value of RON2.3 billion.