Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s fourth-largest aluminium smelter, said on Sunday it was on course to surpass growth targets this year despite the impact of the social unrest in the Gulf kingdom.
Alba’s chairman Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji said the company “expected to achieve a healthy financial performance for the first half of 2011”.
He added in a statement that Alba would surpass current growth targets and he remained confident of maintaining “a positive outlook for the rest of 2011”.
He praised Alba’s employees for successfully contributing towards increased profitability and in exceeding sales and production growth targets despite the recent difficulties faced by the companies in Bahrain.
He did not give any specific details on the company’s financial performance.
Al Kooheji said: “The first half of 2011 presented many challenges to companies in Bahrain, and Alba was not an exception.
“However, Alba maintained normal operations and managed to achieve substantial growth in sales and production.”
The statement added that Alba’s board had also approved plans to open a European sales office in Switzerland.
In March, Alba said it plans to increase exports of higher-margin products to Europe.
“We will increase our sales in Europe [this year] and have a slight decrease in the Middle East… because we want to develop our value-added products’ share”, chief executive officer Laurent Schmitt said.
Last year, Alba generated 50 percent of its sales in Bahrain, 20 percent elsewhere in the region and 10 percent in Europe, to where it plans to sell more billets, foundry alloys and rolling slaps.
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