MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) – RusAl, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, posted a 91 percent fall in its nine-month IFRS net profit to $143 million as a result of falling prices, the company said in its earnings statement on Monday.
The figure was below a consensus forecast of analysts polled by RIA Novosti who expected the company to post a net profit of $209.3 million.
“Nine months of the current year have been particularly challenging for the aluminum industry. The operating profitability and underlying results of the company in the third quarter of 2012 were seriously hit by the bottomed LME [London Metals Exchange] aluminum price as a result of investor sentiment,” RusAl CEO Oleg Deripaska said in a statement.
The company’s revenue fell by 12.8 percent in the reporting period to $8.267 billion while adjusted EBITDA plummeted 67 percent to $694 million, with EBITDA margin falling to 8.4 percent from 22.5 percent a year earlier.
RusAl’s net debt fell by three percent to $10.710 billion as of September 30, 2012 from the end of last year. The company plans to repay early no less than $406 million in debt obligations falling due in the first half of 2013 by the end of 2012.