Its turnover amounted to RON2.47 billion, compared with RON2.13 billion in 2016.
“In 2017, Alro achieved its best financial results in the last ten years. Thanks to our long-term vertical integration strategy, we have succeeded to monitor and reduce the impact of production costs in the net result, while expanding our customer portfolio and penetrating sophisticated markets such as aerospace and automotive industries,” said company board chairman Marian Nastase.
In 2017, Alro benefited from a favorable international environment as the aluminum quotation at the London Metal Exchange (LME) increased significantly. The average LME in 2017 was $1,969/ton, compared with $1,605/ton in 2016. In the last quarter of 2017, the average price rose to $2,102/ton, $392/ton more than the average level recorded in Q4 2016, of $1,710/ton.
Alro continued to focus on high and very high value added aluminum sales with higher premiums, which has led both to higher quantitative volume and value sales of processed products, which is in line with the Company’s strategy in recent years. The total primary aluminum production was 282,000 tons in 2017 compared with 273,000 tons in 2016, while its processed aluminum production was in 2017 of 84,000 tons, 5,000 tons more than in 2016.
During 2017, Alro invested RON142 million in technological upgrades, operational efficiency and customer portfolio expansion and product range diversification, compared with RON81 million in the similar period of 2016. The company focused on the continuous reduction of energy consumption rates and improving the quality of its products.
In November 2017, Alro completed negotiations for a credit facility of $167 million credit facility that extends a three-year $137 million revolving credit facility signed in December 2015 for a period of two years with an additional non-cash facility of $30 million. The transaction involved a syndicate of eight banks (OTP Bank Romania, Unicredit Bank, Banca Comerciala Intesa Sanpaolo Romania, Banca Transilvania, Banca de Export-Import a Romaniei (Eximbank) and Garanti Bank) and was managed by RBI Group (Raiffeisen Bank International and Raiffeisen Bank Romania acting jointly) as sole coordinator.
Alro is subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., a global, vertically-integrated primary and processed aluminum producer.