Hydro Slips To Loss In Q3 On Charges, Weak Prices - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro (NHY, NHYDY.PK, NHYDY.PK) reported Wednesday that its third-quarter net loss was 1.39 billion Norwegian kroner, compared to last year's profit of 925 million kroner.

Loss per share was 0.62 krone, compared to profit per share of 0.37 krone a year ago. The latest results mainly included a provision for restructuring costs of 1.15 billion kroner.

Underlying net income was 606 million kroner, compared to prior year's 1.70 billion kroner. Underlying earnings per share were 0.33 krone, down from 0.74 krone last year.

Hydro's reported earnings before financial items and tax or EBIT amounted to 222 million kroner, down from last year's 2.06 billion kroner. Underlying EBIT declined to 1.37 billion kroner from 2.68 billion kroner in the previous year.

The weak underlying results mainly reflected a decrease in realized aluminium and alumina prices, partly offset by lower raw material costs and positive effects from higher production in Brazil.

Revenue for the quarter fell 6 percent to 37.52 billion kroner from 39.77 billion kroner a year ago.

Bauxite production grew 67 percent and Alumina production climbed 61 percent. Meanwhile, realized alumina price fell 33 percent and realized aluminium price fell 19 percent.

Further, the company noted that the federal court in Belem, Brazil, lifted the final embargo on Alunorte's new bauxite residue disposal area or DRS2 on September 26, ending a 19-month embargo period which has restricted activities at the plant.

Alunorte, with an annual production capacity of 6.3 million mt, reached 83 percent utilization of its capacity in the third quarter.

President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim, said, "It is encouraging to see costs coming down in our upstream business, combined with forceful restructuring and optimization measures downstream. Amid challenging markets, it is more important than ever to focus our efforts on what we control ourselves."