Lightweight metals manufacturer Alcoa (NYSE: AA), New York, NY, reported sales for the first quarter of $2.65 billion, up 24.7 percent year-over-year. Profit was a loss of $210 million, compared to a gain of $225 million a year ago.
In an ongoing effort to reduce complexity, in the first quarter Alcoa streamlined its business segments into three, focused on bauxite, alumina and aluminum. Earlier this month, the Company also announced a consolidation of its administrative locations.
“Alcoa is off to a strong start with our first full quarter as an independent company,” said Roy Harvey, CEO of Alcoa. “In our Bauxite segment, our third-party business remained strong and we continued to grow profits, while our Alumina and Aluminum segments captured the benefits of improved market pricing to increase earnings substantially.”
For 2017, Alcoa is projecting 2017 global aluminum demand growth of 4.5 to 5 percent over 2016. The Company continues to project relatively balanced global bauxite and alumina markets and a modest global aluminum surplus of 300 thousand to 700 thousand metric tons.
