Alcoa’s good results likely to boost Alumina's performance

With US aluminium production giant returning to profit with the Q4 results, the price of aluminium has seen a boost which has benefitted the Australian based company named Alumina.

Alumina is in fact directly affected by Alcoa’s results as the two of them jointly own Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) business, which owns alumina assets in Western Australia and the Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria, where Alcoa is the senior partner.

Alcoa being one of the leading aluminium manufacturers in the world has significantly affected the price of aluminium which is forecasted to see a 20% or higher rise in 2015 soaring from the current price of $2,170 a tonne as demand becomes more robust in the aerospace and automotive industries.

After-tax operating income in Alcoa’s alumina business in the December quarter was $US178m ($192.59m), up from $US62m a year earlier, due partly to higher prices and a weaker Australian dollar.

Alumina is due to release its 2014 financial reports in February and at the moment enjoys a nine-cent-rise in its price at $1.975 which 4.6% higher than before.

Alumina received capital repayments and income from AWAC of $US45m ($48.69m) in the fourth quarter, bringing the total receipts to $US119m ($128.75m) for 2014.