Rusal posts profit despite US sanctions
HONG KONG: Shares in Russian aluminium giant Rusal surged after the company posted a secondquarter profit, bolstered by higher metal prices despite US sanctions imposed earlier this year.
The results were the first to be posted since Washington announced the April sanctions.
The company is listed on the Hong Kong exchange, where shares closed up 4.5 per cent at HK$2.30 (US$0.29).
The company posted an adjusted net income of US$218 million for the three months to the end of June, up from 202 million in the same period the previous year but down 31 per cent from JanuaryMarch this year.
Recurring net profit for the second quarter was up 75 per cent year-on-year at US$440 million.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced fresh sanctions against Russia in April following a diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning in Britain of former double agent Sergei Skripal.
The sanctions hit oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin including Rusal founder Oleg Deripaska, who resigned his seat on the board in May as the company worked to escape US sanctions.
Rusal warned that despite Monday’s positive results, the sanctions still put the firm at risk.
“Whilst further evaluation is being carried out by the Company to assess the impact of the OFAC Sanctions on the Group, the Company’s current assessment still remains the same, that it is highly likely that the impact may be materially adverse to the business,” it said in a statement Monday.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the April-June quarter rose eight per cent to US$552 million compared to the same period last year.
Revenue dropped year-on-year from US$2.47 billion to US$2.25 billion in the second quarter. — AFP