Press Metal Aluminium reports 2.2% growth in revenue for 1Q FY19

Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Berhad, the largest Aluminium smelter in South East Asia, published released its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2019.  The group’s revenue increased marginally by RM45.82 million or 2.2% in 1Q FY19 compare with the same period last year. Revenue stood at RM2.17 billion in 1Q FY19.

Net profit attributable to shareholders declined 23.5% year-on-year to RM115.11 million in 1QFY19. The group had reported net profit of RM150.48 million in 1QFY18. “Despite the higher revenue, margins were lower as a result of lower realized aluminium prices and prolonged high raw material prices stemming from the partial shutdown of the world’s largest alumina refinery in Brazil,” Press Metal said.

Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Paul Koon said: “Our results are commendable in the current market environment given some players are in negative territory due to escalating costs and lower metal prices. The silver lining is that this will discourage new investments or restarts coming on-stream hence constraining any supply growth.

We remain cautious of near term demand due to trade tensions and geopolitical uncertainties, but we expect production costs to be lower moving forward from tapered raw material prices. Global alumina supply is expected to improve and prices to ease, after the Brazilian refinery announced on 21st May 2019 that it has secured all necessary approvals from authorities and the federal court to resume full production. In addition, carbon anode prices have declined from over RMB4,000 to around RMB3,300 per tonne.

We are encouraged by the demand for our value-added products (VAPs) and are confident that we can achieve our 60% VAPs target in 2019. We remain optimistic in the prospects of the aluminium industry thus we will continue to actively seek both organic and inorganic growth opportunities to strengthen our position in the market.”