Rusal profits jump 41% on aluminium price rise

Russia’s Rusal aluminium giant on Thursday reported a 41 percent rise in core quarterly profits and predicted a further rise in global prices that should help it overcome growing local tax burdens.

The world’s top aluminium producer reported a 40.6 percent jump in its first quarterly EBIDTA — a pre-deductions earnings indicator closely watched by analysts and investors — to $682 million.

The company reported net profits of $746 million on an aluminium output increase of 4.2 percent.

Rusal chief executive Oleg Deripaska said the jump came on the back of climbing commodity prices “which in the first quarter exceeded our expectations.

“In this regard, we have revised our forecast and now expect that the average price for aluminium in 2011 will be above $2,700 per tonne,” he said.

The metal was trading at $2,681 per tonne for immediate cash settlement in London on Thursday.

Rusal said its earnings were partially hurt by high rates of inflation and rising Russian energy tariffs.

Analysts said the reported figures fell in line with expectations but meant that Rusal will need strong global aluminium prices to help it overcome domestic headwinds in the months to come.

“We treat the results as negative due to cost escalation above market expectations and think they may lead to a… revision unless aluminium rallies back to recent highs,” Moscow’s Alfa Bank said in a research note.

Rusal was responsible for 10 percent of the world’s aluminium production in 2010.