Showing improvements over last year across the board, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter w/o China, reported a profit of BD92.6 million ($246.2 million) for the second quarter of 2021, up by 665 per cent year-on-year (YoY), versus a loss of BD16.4 million ($43.6 million) for the same period in 2020.

The total comprehensive income for Q2 2021 stood at BD90.6 million ($241.1 million) as against the loss for the second quarter of 2020 of BD18.2 million ($48.4 million) – up by 598 per cent, YoY. Gross profit for the quarter was BD123.7 million ($328.9 million) up by 471 per cent from last year’s total of BD21.6 million ($57.6 million).

Alba’s revenue for Q2 2021 increased by 52 per cent on the year, to BD370 million ($984 million) from last year’s total of BD244 million ($649.1 million).

Shaikh Daij

In the first half of 2021, Alba reported a profit of BD144.8 million ($385 million), up by 1,461 per cent as against a loss of BD10.6 million ($28.3 million) for the same period in 2020. Total comprehensive income for H1 2021 was BD149.1 million ($396.5 million), up by 852per cent YoY, compared to a total comprehensive loss of BD19.8 million ($52.7 million) in H1 2020. Gross profit improved in the first half to BD204.2 million ($543 million), up by 270 per cent from last year’s BD55.2 million ($146.8 million) in H1.

Revenue for the first half increased by 29 per cent on the year to BD672.7 million ($1,789 million) from BD520 million ($1,383 million) last year.

Alba’s top-line were driven in by higher LME prices (61per cent YoY in Q2 2021 and 41per cent YoY in H1 2021) and partially offset by lower sales volume (a drop of 1per cent YoY in Q2 2021 and 3per cent YoY in H1 2021) while the bottom-line for Q2 and H1 2021 was driven by higher top-line and partially impacted by higher selling and distribution Expenses, the company said.

Commenting on Alba’s financial performance for the first half of 2021, the Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa stated: “We continued with the strong momentum we’ve started in the first quarter of 2021, and this has led us to set all-time records in our performance:

Al Baqali

“We have achieved highest-ever production of 773,887 metric tonnes while value added sales reached new heights with 472,323 metric tonnes (translating into 64per cent of our sales). These new precedents were made possible thanks to Line 6 Expansion Project.

- Our profit topped new peak for the first 6-months of 2021 with $385 million, up by 1,461per cent YoY.

“Our business performance is directly correlated to our safety mindset as we truly believe that productivity and safety are mutually inclusive. Today, we have achieved more than 14 million safe-working hours without LTI.”

Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Baqali added: “Despite the Covid-19 challenge and global logistics’ issue, Alba has set new benchmarks in its five decades of commercial operations: higher production, higher EBITDA and higher net profit ever achieved in a 6-month period. This unparalleled operational and financial performance is defined by our strong results rather than our attributes. Our results speak louder than words and this strong comeback on all fronts would not have been made possible without the resilience of our workforce and ‘Thinking First, Safety Always.”