Noranda Q3 2015 results reflect a challenging aluminium price environment

Noranda aluminium Holding Corporation reported results for third quarter 2015. Sales were $309.5 million in third quarter 2015, $332.7 million in second quarter 2015 and $361.4 million in third quarter 2014.

Sequentially, sales decreased $23.2 million, or 7.0%, primarily due to the lower average Midwest transaction price and lower external shipments at Primary partially offset by higher external shipments at Alumina.

Other financial highlights:

• Cash and cash equivalents totaled $8.9 million and total available liquidity was $112.7 million as of September 30, 2015
• Excluding special items, loss per share was $3.87 loss versus a $0.32 loss per share in third quarter 2014; reported loss per share was $17.49 versus a $0.40 loss per share in the third quarter 2014
• Average realized Midwest Transaction Price was $0.79 per pound, compared to $0.95 per pound in second quarter 2015, and $1.08 per pound in third quarter 2014
• Total segment loss was $26.4 million versus total segment profit of $19.4 million in second quarter 2015 and total segment profit of $36.6 million in third quarter 2014
• Primary segment goodwill was determined to be fully impaired resulting in a non-cash write-off of $137.6 million

"Our third quarter results reflect an extremely challenging aluminium price environment, to which we responded with an intense focus on managing cash and available liquidity," said Layle K. "Kip" Smith, Noranda's President and Chief Executive Officer. "aluminium prices are at their lowest levels since the global financial crisis, which presents a financial challenge to all aluminium producers, not just Noranda.

"In this price environment, we are working to stabilize operations at the aluminium smelter, reduce operating costs across the integrated upstream platform, and tightly manage our balance sheet to free up cash. We believe we are taking the necessary actions to achieve sustainable operations and targeted cost structure improvements. We expect these actions to transform our cost structure so we can generate positive cash flow even during the troughs of the aluminium pricing cycle," said Smith.