The company reported a turnover of RON1.1 billion in the first half, from RON1.2 billion in the first half of 2015.
“Alro managed to obtain positive results in 1H 2016, despite the pricing pressure coming from below $1,600/ton on the London Metal Exchange combined with lower conversion premiums,” said Marian Nastase, president of Alro’s board.
“Our strategy implemented during the past years drove us in the right direction and for the first half of 2016 we succeeded to obtain better levels of our output in terms of quantities, while reducing the overall costs and increasing the efficiency of our processes. These positive results motivate us to further seek new opportunities to drive productivity, while expanding our products portfolio and improving our offers to our customers,” he added.
The company’s primary aluminum sales grew to 79,533 tons in the first half, nearly 10,900 tons more than in the same period last year, while processed aluminum sales reached 42,000 tons from 39,629 tons in the first half last year. Alro also increased its production volumes, prompted by increased sales, the company said.
In the first half of 2016, Alro continued its investment program focused on increasing energy efficiency and on increasing competitiveness and product quality. The company plans to invest a total $53 million this year, a plan that includes the increase of scrap processing capacity to 90,000 tons/year from 60,000 tons/year. In addition to the energy efficiency investment, in 2016 Alro continues to invest in expanding client portfolio by increasing the production capacity of its processed aluminum division.
Alro is a unit of Dutch Vimetco, which has operations in Romania, China and Sierra Leone. It is the largest aluminum producer in continental Europe excluding Russia and Scandinavia. The company owns nearly 84.2% of Alro’s capital, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea owns 10.21%.