Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, reported a net loss of BD17.5 million ($47 million) in the fourth quarter of 2018, down by 175 per cent versus a net income of BD23.4 million ($62.4 million) for the same period in 2017.

Alba’s top-line and bottom-line for the fourth quarter of 2018 were impacted primarily by lower sales’ revenue and higher alumina prices, said a statement from the company.

For the full-year of 2018, Alba’s top-line and bottom-line were attributable to higher sales volume, higher LME price (+7 per cent year-over-year (YoY)) and partially offset by higher alumina prices (+34 per cent YoY), it said.

The company reported a gross loss of BD7.4 million ($20 million) versus a gross profit of BD37.3 million ($99.2 million) in the same quarter of 2017, down by 120 per cent YoY. With regards to total sales/revenues, Alba reported BD211.5 million ($562.6 million) in Q4 2018, versus BD252.7 million ($672.2 million) in Q4 2017, a drop of 16 per cent YoY.

For the full-year of 2018, Alba’s net income stood at BD59.8 million ($158.9 million), down by 35 per cent YoY, compared to BD92.5 million ($245.9 million) in 2017, said a company statement.

The company reported a gross profit of BD85.9 million ($228.6 million) versus BD134.6 million ($358.1 million) a decrease of 36 per cent YoY. Its total sales/revenues reached BD911.3 million ($2.4 billion), up by 6 per cent YoY, compared to BD857.8 million ($2.3 billion) in 2017.

Alba’s total assets as at December 31, 2018, reached BD2.208 billion ($5.874 billion), versus BD1.686 billion ($4.484.5 billion) as at December 31, 2017, up by 31 per cent YoY. Total shareholders’ equity as at December 31, 2018, stood at BD1.073 billion ($2.854 billion), up by 2 per cent YoY, versus BD1.052 billion ($2.798 billion) as at December 31, 2017.

Additionally, during 2018, Alba significantly improved its safety performance by recording a 50 per cent drop in lost time injuries YoY. The company also launched ‘Think Orange, Think Line 6 Safe Start-up’ Campaign to coincide with the commissioning of Line 6.

Tim Murray

Amongst 1 million-club metric tonnes (mt) smelter, Alba’s production topped 1,011,101 mt (+3 per cent YoY) while sales volume reached 1,012,548 mt (+3.5 per cent YoY). Value-added sales were at 60 per cent in 2018 (up from 57 per cent in 2017).

Chairman of Alba’s board of directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa, said: “Despite the significant volatility in the financial markets, Alba had a strong finish in both safety and production where Alba exceeded the 1-million metric tonnes production mark for the 1st time in its history.”

“In addition, our flagship Line 6 project was commissioned ahead of schedule on December 13,” he added.

Alba’s chief executive officer Tim Murray said: “2018 was a challenging year with the unprecedented spike in alumina prices which significantly impacted our bottom-line. Despite the impact of higher alumina prices, we were able to deliver solid results on the back of our Project Titan Cost Improvement Program,” he said. “In 2019, we will continue our focus to improve safety, production and cost along with our commitment to the safe start-up of Line 6,” he added.

LINE 6 ACCELERATED

Meanwhile, Alba, said its flagship Line 6 Expansion Project was progressing as per schedule with the successful testing of 40 pots which are now fully operational.

One of the most remarkable achievements for Alba on this landmark project is the extreme ownership on sSafety by Alba employees and contractors, it stated.

Line 6 Smelter clocked more than 32 million working-hours without Lost Time Injury (LTI), while Power Station 5 recorded more than 7 million working-hours without LTI and Power Distribution System achieved more than 2 million working-hours without LTI as of January 31, 2019, it added.

Shaikh Daij said: “We are delighted to have begun work on Potline 6 ahead of schedule on December 13, 2018 and to have successfully started the first 40 pots.”

“Alba is targeting Line 6 full ramp-up within Q3 2019 which will further position us to take advantage of the growing demand in global aluminium consumption,” he noted.

“We also look forward to finish 2019 strong as Alba’s total production will top 1,350,000 tonnes with Potline 6. With 2019 production target, we will make a big step forward on the cost side which will bring us closer to achieve $40 million savings (Phase IV of Project Titan) in 2019,” he added.

ASI MEMBER

Further, the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, has underlined its evolution to a more sustainable future by joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) in February 2019. ASI is a global, multi-stakeholder, non-profit standards setting and certification organisation. It is the result of producers, users and stakeholders in the aluminium value chain coming together with a commitment to maximising the contribution of aluminium to a sustainable society.