Century Aluminum’s net sales losses 25.6% sequentially for Q3 on lower shipments, but net income grows by $6.9 million

On Monday, November 7, Century Aluminum Company, a US-based primary aluminium producer, announced its third quarter results ended September 30, 2022, whereby it declared its net income growing $6.9 million sequentially to $44.3 million. In Q2, the company yielded a net income of $37.4 million. Diluted earnings per share was $0.43 in the third quarter compared to $0.36 in Q2.

Although the company’s net income rose in Q3, net sales decreased by 25.61 per cent quarter-on-quarter from $856.6 million to $637.2 million, driven by lower shipments. Century Aluminum reported that its shipments in Q3 fell sequentially by 40,359 tonnes from 214,084 tonnes to 173,725 tonnes.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA also fell from $86.6 million in the June quarter to $35.9 million in the September quarter, attributable to lower LME and regional premiums, as well as higher energy and other raw material costs.

Century’s liquidity position at the end of Q3 was $215.1 million. Additionally, the company agreed to a new $90 million credit facility secured by Vlissingen assets, which will be available from the beginning of December 2022.

President and Chief Executive Officer Jesse Gary commented on the results, “While the global energy crisis and difficult industry conditions continued to present challenges in the third quarter, Century remains well positioned to operate all of our businesses through this portion of the commodity cycle and benefit from the long-term trends towards value-added aluminum products. We took several proactive measures to lower our cost structure, reduce our exposure to market energy prices and improve our liquidity. Among these measures, we have agreed with our energy supplier in Iceland to convert our remaining unhedged Nord Pool exposure to a fixed price. We have also significantly bolstered our liquidity position with a new $90 million credit facility secured by our Vlissingen assets. We are confident that these actions, combined with the continuing excellent work from our operations teams, leave us well-situated to continue to execute on our long-term strategies and create value for our stakeholders.”