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[October 2004]
Alcoa Third Quarter Figures
Alcoa has announced that its income from continuing operations for the third quarter 2004 was US$298 million, up from US$285 million in the third quarter of 2003 and down from US$405 million in the second quarter of 2004.
Net income in Q3 2004 was US$280 million, down from US$404 million in Q2 2004 and more or less the same as Q3 2003.
Year-to-date income from continuing operations was US$1.053 billion which is 52% above the US$695 million registered for the first 9 months of 2003. During this time period, the average cash aluminium price traded on the LME increased by 20%.
Sales in Q3 2004 of US$5.975 billion rose 12.5% over revenue in Q3 2003 and were down slightly on Q2 2004 which registered US$6.07 billion. The drop from Q2 was primarily due to lower activity in the company's automotive markets. Upstream markets for alumina and aluminium remained strong in the quarter, as world-wide demand pushed inventories lower. Beyond customary seasonality within some downstream markets, the automotive, consumer packaging and European fabricated aluminium markets saw softness in Q3. Commercial transportation and aerospace markets continued to gain momentum.
Higher input costs - particularly energy in Europe and North America - negatively affected several businesses and the increase in prices for petroleum-derived products, like resin, caused higher costs in the packaging businesses.
ENDS