Romanian aluminium producer Alro posts five times higher losses

Romanian aluminium producer Alro Slatina increased its adjusted net losses five times in the first nine months of 2014, compared to the same period of 2013, to EUR 26 million, as the price of aluminium went down and the energy costs went up. The company’s turnover declined by 4%, to some EUR 325 million, according to its financial report. “Alro increased its sales of processed aluminium, as part of its long-term strategy to focus on high value added products, but due to factors that we cannot control, such as the international aluminium market and the energy taxes, our Company continues to report losses,” said Marian Nastase, Chairman of the Board of Alro. “The third quarter of 2014 was a difficult one, with lower demand mainly in August and a strong competition in an oversupplied market. Under this adverse environment, the latest legislative changes regarding the energy support scheme come as a vital solution for our operations. Despite the high costs that were beyond our control, we decided to continue and even increase investments in energy efficiency projects, thus trying to partially offset the difficult market conditions,” he added. Alro paid some EUR 20 million only for green certificates for the electricity it consumed in the first nine months, almost three times more than in the same period of last year. The Romanian Government recently approved a state aid scheme for large industrial electricity consumers, which caps the green certificate costs for these companies. Alro is Romania’s largest electricity consumer. The company is controlled by Russian businessman Vitaliy Machitski, via Vimetco group, which is registered in the Netherlands. Alro’s shares are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The company has a market capitalization of EUR 186 million. editor@romania-insider.com