Century Aluminum Posts Heavy Loss Due to Hedging (CENX)

Century Aluminum Co.

reports Q3 earnings loss of $0.18 versus consensus of $0.08. Century Aluminum Co. reports revenues of $279.2 million versus consensus of $269.47 million. The company took a $12.2 million charge to earnings related to LME price protection options. Shipments of primary aluminum for the quarter totaled 147,216 tonnes compared with 146,245 tonnes in the year-ago quarter. Logan W. Kruger, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Broad economic trends have, on balance, improved since the spring. Commercial and consumer activity in China has remained strong. In addition, Chinese government authorities appear serious about their stated intent to limit the use of electrical power in industries like ours as part of their overall energy-saving plan. Along with these fundamental factors, a weakening U.S. Dollar, combined with investor interest in physical ownership of metals, have supported commodity prices. Despite these areas of strength, global aluminum inventories remain high and economic activity in, and the state of finances of, developed regions remain a concern. We thus continue to manage the company with a bias toward protecting the downside.” Shares of CENX are lower in the after-hours by 2.79%.