Alcoa, the world’s third-largest aluminium producer, reported second-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates as the company raised prices.
Chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld, who took over in May, has boosted prices to help make up for rising energy expenses, which account for about a third of the cost of producing aluminium. Alcoa sold aluminium for an average $3,058 a tonne in the quarter, about 6.2 per cent higher than a year earlier.
‘’This is a good beat for Alcoa,’’ Jeremy Blackman, an analyst at Hester Capital Management, said in a Bloomberg Television interview from Austin, Texas. ‘’It looks like they did a good job’’ passing on higher aluminium prices to customers.
Net income for the quarter fell to $546 million, or 66 cents a share, from $715 million, or 81 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Alcoa said in a statement. Sales fell 5.5 per cent to $7.62 billion after the company sold its packaging unit.
Excluding a charge of 5 cents a share because of lost production at a refinery in Australia and a smelter in Texas, profit was 71 cents a share, topping the 65-cent average estimate of 17 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.