Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, generated a net income of BD92.5 million ($245.9 million) in 2017, up 91 per cent compared to BD48.4 million ($128.7 million) in 2016.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, Alba posted a net income of BD23.5 million ($62.4 million), up 72 per cent versus BD13.7 million ($36.5 million) for the same period in 2016, said a statement from the company.

Alba closed 2017 strongly and the sound financial performance reflected the company’s resilience in setting the benchmark on Line 5 recovery and was driven by favourable management performance, it said.

The company reported total sales of BD857.8 million ($2.3 billion) in 2017, up by 28 per cent versus BD669.8 million ($1.8 billion) in 2016. The Q4 2017 total sales stood at BD252.7 million ($672.2 million), up by 39 per cent versus BD181.6 million ($483 million) for the same period in 2016 – both driven by higher LME prices, it added.

The total sales volume was up by 0.4 per cent YoY to reach 978,195 metric tonnes, while production topped 981,016 metric tonnes (+1 per cent YoY). 2017 value-added sales averaged 57 per cent versus 56 per cent in 2016.

Alba’s board of directors recommended a dividend distribution of BD36.8 million ($97.9 million) for the fiscal year 2017 which will be paid from March 21, 2018.

Alba released its full-year and fourth quarter of 2017 results during a meeting of the company’s board of directors held today (February 8).

The board also approved the appointment of Dr Abdulla Habib as the acting chief operations officer (COO) with immediate effect, said the statement.

Alba’s 2017 highlights included:
• Continuous improvement on safety performance with the launch of ‘Safety in All Seasons’ campaign;
• Project Titan - Phase II: normalised savings of $79/mt versus a target of $100/mt with taking into account the benefits of insurance claim.

Alba also achieved several milestones in its Line 6 Expansion Project during the year. These included:
* Line 6 Expansion Project - 5 million-hours without  LTIs; overall progress: 40 per cent
• Power Expansion (3 million-hours without LTIs; overall progress of Power Station 5 (PS 5) at 47 per cent and PDS at 65 per cent);
• Alba signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GE for 4th GT block in PS 5.
•Alba and Bechtel signed MoU to explore further opportunities.

Alba said the world consumption of aluminium totalled 63.6 million metric tonnes (mt) last year, up by 6 per cent year-over-year (YoY). Asian demand rose by 7 per cent YoY led by consumption in China (+8 per cent YoY).

Demand in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) remained strong (+4 per cent YoY), driven by major infrastructure spending in Saudi Arabia (+12 per cent YoY).

World production of aluminum was also up by 8 per cent YoY (63.5 million mt).

Alba said its priorities for 2018 are:
• Continued focus on safety with new “Safety Selfie” initiative;
•  Project Titan - Phase III (2018: 1,000,000 mt and $60/t);
• Leveraging strong physical demand on value-added sales;
• Implementation of Line 6 Expansion Project on schedule; finalising of ECA financing - second tranche by Q1 2018; and award of the remaining packages - TradeArabia News Service