Press Metal Aluminium’s 1QFY20 profit declines 10.9% YoY to RM102.57 million on lower aluminium prices

Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Berhad, the largest Aluminium smelter in South East Asia announced its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2020.

Revenue decreased by 15.7% year-on-year to RM1.83 billion in 1Q20.  The group’s profit after tax and minority interest dropped by 10.9% to RM102.57 million in 1QFY20 on lower realised aluminium prices.

Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Paul Koon stated: “We were faced with a challenging start to the year due to the escalation of Covid-19 which became a pandemic, affecting all countries. Majority of the world economy was halted or severely disrupted by enforced quarantines, lock downs and travel restrictions. With reduced economic activities and shutdowns in industries, both the aluminium demand and prices were impacted. However, we have partially locked in some favourable pricing from our forward hedging which mitigated some of the impacts from the prevailing low-price environment.”

“Despite temporary setback from the pandemic, we are confident of our low-cost model and remain committed to execute our expansion as planned. We are targeting to commission our Phase 3 smelter in January 2021, increasing our capacity by 42% from 760,000 up to 1,080,000 tonnes per annum. The progress of our investment in the PT Bintan alumina refinery is also moving as planned and we expect Phase 1 commissioning by end of 2020.”

“We have successfully navigated downcycles in the past and are already planning our growth trajectory beyond this year. We are confident that our strategies will enable us to emerge stronger from this when the global economic environment improves.”