Rusal posts worse-than-expected net loss for 2012

Russia’s Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminium producer, on Monday posted a worse-than-expected net loss of $337 million (258 million euros) for the full year 2012, mainly weighed down by its stake in the troubled mining group Norilsk Nickel.

Last month, Rusal said it expected to report a 2012 net loss of $55 million, compared with a previous net profit of $237 million in 2011, but was later forced to revise its forecast after Norilsk Nickel — in which it is a 27.8 percent shareholder — recorded a 41 percent drop in 2012 net profit, to $2.1 billion.

Rusal sales fell 11.4 percent in the twelve-month period meanwhile, coming in at $10.9 billion.

The group also announced last month that it was burdened by weaker metal prices and that it planned to cut its production by 7.0 percent.

In 2012, Rusal produced 4.17 million tonnes of aluminium, up 1.0 percent from a year earlier.