Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) reported record-breaking financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2021 this week.
For the third quarter Alba reported a profit of US$335 million, reversing a loss of US$30.9 million in the third quarter of last year. Total comprehensive income in the quarter came to US$336.1 million, also reversing a loss in the prior third quarter of US$31.1 million. Gross profit for the third quarter totaled US$418.5 million, up by 513 percent from last year’s third quarter gross profit of US$68.3 million. Revenue for the just-ended quarter totaled US$1,034.2 million, increasing by 48 percent from last year’s third-quarter revenue of US$698.6 million.
In the first nine months of 2021 Alba turned a profit of US$720 million, reversing last year’s first nine months loss of US$59.1 million. Total comprehensive income in the first nine months came to US$732.7 million, also reversing a loss last year of US$83.8 million. Gross profit totaled US$961.5 million, better by 347 percent than last year’s gross profit of US$215.1 million. Revenue totaled US$2,823.2 million, 36 percent above last year’s revenue for the first nine months of US$2,081.5 million.
Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa elaborated on the periodic results in a press release.
“Thanks to new-all-time high LME prices in recent months coupled with Alba’s production efficiencies and economies of scale, we continued to set benchmarks and reach new all-time records in our performance:
- Our Profit for the third quarter of 2021 has beaten the Profit for the second quarter by US$88.7 million while our Profit for nine months jumped by 1,320% to US$720 million.
- EBITDA margin, for the first time in Alba’s history, tops 42.6% in Q3 2021 and 36.5% for the nine months of 2021.
- Our production has been on a winning streak since the beginning of 2021: 381,933 metric tonnes (MT) in Q1, 391,954 MT in Q2 and 392,959 MT in Q3.”
“I take the opportunity to thank the Management team as well as Alba’s labor and employees for going above and beyond to score another strong set of results despite the logistics’ challenges we are facing and look forward to close 2021 stronger with new precedents on all fronts – financial and operational,” he concluded
Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Baqali noted the record-breaking profits gained by the firm in the third quarter.
“Alba today joins the US$700 million club for the first time in its history with its Profits topping US$720 million for the nine months of 2021. We have reached this all-time record in our profits thanks to the resilience we have gained from Line 6 Expansion Project.”
“As we accelerate our transformation with a new sense of ESG urgency, we at Alba are open to new possibilities ahead to achieve a sustainable growth,” he continued. “I am also pleased to report that since the beginning of October, we didn’t have any COVID-19 infection in our c. 3,200 workforce and no employee was quarantined till-date.”
Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is the world’s biggest aluminium smelter outside the People’s Republic of China. 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 2020 Alba’s smelter produced 1,548,500 metric tons of primary aluminium.