Chalco's net profit soars on higher aluminium prices

Accendra Health

22/03/2018 12:59

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - Aluminum Corp of China
 601600.SS  2600.HK , known as Chalco, increased net profit by
274 percent last year as supply-side reforms and an
environmental crackdown lifted aluminium prices. 
    Chalco  ACH.N , the listed arm of state-run aluminium
producer Chinalco, made net income of 1.38 billion yuan ($218 
million) last year, against a revised net profit of 368.4
million yuan in 2016, it said in a filing to the Shanghai stock
exchange on Thursday.      
    Revenue came in at 180.1 billion yuan, up from an adjusted
144.2 billion yuan a year earlier, it said.  
    The company had said in January that 2017 net profit would
rise 239 percent year on year to 1.36 billion yuan, citing
supply-side reform, environmental measures and cost cuts.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1PQ1LT
    However, fourth-quarter net profit was much smaller than in
previous quarters, with Shanghai aluminium prices  SAFcv1  down
almost 9 percent over the final three months of 2017 because
winter supply cuts in China were less severe than
expected. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1PQ1LT
    The company reported net profit of 38.9 million yuan in the
final three months of 2017, down from 599.1 million yuan in the
previous quarter - its smallest gain since the first quarter of
2016, according to Reuters records. 
    Chalco was spared from aluminium production cuts during the
winter, though it did reduce output of alumina, the main raw
material used to produce the metal.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NL1MQ
    Shanghai aluminium prices have continued to fall this year
and are hovering at about 14,000 yuan a tonne. At that level,
most smelters are losing money, industry sources say.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1QK32P
($1 = 6.3295 Chinese yuan renminbi)
    

 (Reporting by Tom Daly and Min Zhang
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((tom.daly@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1023;))