KUALA LUMPUR: Press Metal
Aluminium Holdings Bhd’s net profit soared to RM255.6mil in the second quarter ended June 30, as higher selling prices boosted its margin.
“Global demand for aluminium, especially billets, increased substantially during the first half of the year compared to the same period of the preceding year,” the metal producer said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Prices of aluminium, used widely in the transport and packaging industries, have continued to rise due to strong demand, shrinking supplies and higher freight costs.
The benchmark aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange reached US$2,642 a tonne last week. Press Metal on Tuesday said it expects aluminium prices to hold above the US$2,500 a tonne.
For the three-month ended June 30, Press Metal said revenue jumped 52% to RM2.64bil, while group’s profit before tax (PBT) tripled to RM376.8mil from RM125mil a year ago.
It has declared an interim dividend payout of 1 sen a share, or about a third of its quarterly earnings.
“We continued to operate under a reduced workforce environment during this pandemic situation. Thus, our production volume was not optimised,” Press Metal said.
The Covid-19 restrictions also affected the group’s expansion plans.
“The pace of our Phase 3 ramp-up decelerated accordingly as we put in place precautionary measures to safeguard our employees. Amid these challenges, full commissioning is still expected in the fourth quarter of 2021 and our production volume will increase progressively in tandem,” it added.
The group expects to return to normalised working environment by the end of the year.
“Moving forward to 2022, we will be on a stronger footing with higher production volume from Phase 3, healthy aluminium prices and anticipated economic rebuilding,” it said.
