Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) announced results for the final quarter and full year of 2017 late last week, boasting of strong numbers for both periods across the board.
Alba recorded a year-on-year rise in sales volume for the year of 0.4 percent to 978,195 metric tons, with production on an upswing as well, better by 1 percent over 2016, totaling 981,016 metric tons. Total sales in the year came to US$2.3 billion, a 28-percent rise year-on-year from 2016’s total of US$1.8 billion. In the fourth quarter alone the firm reported sales of US$672.2 million, a 39-percent jump year-on-year from 2016’s fourth-quarter total of US$483.0 million. Alba credits higher prices at the LME as being the primary motivator for both increases.
In addition to an overall rise in sales, the firm witnessed a bump in value-added sales, increasing by 1 percent to encompassing 57 percent of the firm’s total sales.
Net income for the year totaled US$245.9 million, a 91-percent leap beyond 2016’s net income of US$128.7 million. Similarly impressive was the fourth quarter’s 72-percent vault in net income to US$62.4 million from 2016’s fourth-quarter net income of US$36.5 million.
The firm made significant strides in construction on its new Line 6 potline, logging 5 million man hours without a lost-time incident. At the conclusion of 2017 the new line sat at a completion percentage of 40 percent, with the 3 million hours invested in the power expansion bringing it to 47 percent completion.
Going forward, Alba intends to continue its safety initiatives and carry on work upon Project Titan – Phase III. The firm also plans to utilize the market’s strong physical demand for aluminium into continued gains in value-added sales. Further work on Line 6 is in the offing for the current year, with a second tranche of ECA financing expected by the end of next month.
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C., or simply Alba, is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is one of the top 10 largest aluminium producers in the world. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company is based in Bahrain and 84% of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric ton annual capacity. Modernization bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tons in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tons per year. In 2016 Alba’s smelter produced 971,420 metric tons of primary aluminium.