Alba posts bearish financial outcome for Q2 2023 despite higher production and sales; income shrinks to US$91.5 million

Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter outside China, has announced its Q2 results for 2023, disclosing 405,628 tonnes of production, up by 9,085 tonnes from Q2 2022. Sales volume grew by 3,816 tonnes to stand at 392,258 tonnes. Value-added products accounted for 70 per cent of total sales like last year, indicating a stable demand for these products.
But this steady operational output could not result in a positive financial outcome due to the sluggish LME aluminium price trend. Alba posted that its profit stood at BD29.9 million (US$79.5 million) for the second quarter of 2023, down by 83.56 per cent from BD181.9 million a year ago. The company’s Basic and Diluted Earnings per Share amounted to fils 21 in Q2 2023 versus fils 128 in Q2 2022.
Alba’s Total Comprehensive Income in Q2 2023 was BD34.4 million (US$91.5 million) – 82.96 per cent less year-on-year than BD201.9 million. Revenue from customer contracts also stood 25.6 per cent lower than BD520.4 million (US$1,384 million) in Q2 2022 to BD387 million (US$1,029.3 million) in Q2 2023.
For the first half of 2023, Alba reported a profit of BD77.4 million, down by 76.5 per cent from BD328.7 million during the same period of the previous year. Basic and Diluted Earnings per share stood at fils 55 during H1 2023 compared to fils 232 a year ago. Total comprehensive income was as BD79.8 million (US$212.2 million) in H1 2023, down by 78 per cent from BD357.9 million (US$951.8 million) last year.
However, Alba said its financial resilience enabled them to return capital to shareholders with Fils 13.28 per share as an interim cash dividend amounting to BD18,801,617.
Alba also highlighted that its Line 6 New Nameplate Capacity jumped to 560,000 tonnes in Q2 2023. The company also mentioned that it accelerated its transformation to Industry 4.0 by completing an online performance monitoring system for its Power Stations. Alba achieved 4 million safe working hours without L.T.I. as of July 12, 2023.
Alba reported in its results that aluminium demand in the Middle East grew slightly by 1 per cent year-on-year till June 30, but supply stood 1 per cent down over the year.

Source: https://www.alcircle.com/news/alba-posts-bearish-financial-outcome-for-q2-2023-despite-higher-production-and-sales-income-shrinks-to-us91-5-million-98831