
Norsk Hydro in the financial results of second quarter 2019 declared that its underlying earnings before financial items and tax stood at NOK 875 million, compared to NOK 2,713 million in the same period last year. This year-on-year fall in underlying earnings could be attributed to cyber-attack and lower aluminium and alumina prices across the globe.

Underlying EBIT for bauxite and alumina, however, stood higher from NOK 364 million in Q2 2018 to NOK 415 million in Q2 2019, primarily buoyed by increased production following the lifting of the embargo on May 20.
“Alunorte reached 80-85 per cent capacity utilization in June, within the targeted 75-85 per cent capacity utilization for the state-of-art press filter technology. Paragominas and Albras are also ramping up successfully. This is a great achievement by the Brazilian organization,” said Hilde Merete Aasheim, President and CEO of Norsk Hydro.
Underlying EBIT for primary aluminium, on the other hand, inched down from NOK 755 million in Q2 2018 to NOK 604 million, and so the EBIT for rolled products from NOK 212 million to NOK 75 million. The decrease in primary aluminium EBIT was mainly due to lower all-in metal prices and lower margins on power sales in Brazil, while the decline in rolled products EBIT was a consequence of reduced volume and increased personnel cost.
“We maintain our view of a global primary aluminium market in deficit for 2019 in the range 1-1,5 million tonnes. We take down expected global primary demand growth for 2019 to 1-2 percent, as we are seeing signs of weakening in some of our market segments,” said Aasheim.
Underlying EBIT for both extruded solutions and energy also recorded a decline in Q2 2019. From NOK 957 million and NOK 417 million in Q2 2018, they decreased to NOK 772 million and NOK 176 million respectively, due to lower production.
EBIT for metal markets improved from NOK 237 million in Q2 2018 to NOK 299 million in Q2 2019 due to increased results from the remelters and higher results in the sourcing and trading activities.
The overall financial impact of the cyber-attack is estimated at NOK 250 million to NOK 300 million in Q2 2019. However, at the end of second quarter, operations largely returned to normal.
Hydro’s reported EBIT totalled at NOK 656 million for the second quarter of 2019, compared to NOK 2,986 million in the same period last year.
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