“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 told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
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.
Schmitt said production at Alba had not been affected by labor strikes and road closures during the recent unrest in Bahrain. “We didn’t lose any production, we kept our plant at full capacity,” he said.
Schmitt said currently about 80-90 percent of workers were at work. “We reorganized our shifts and so we were able to run our operations without any disturbances.”
Alba is majority-owned by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, which floated a 10 percent stake in the company in an initial public offering (IPO) last year.
The smelter that has an annual production capacity of 860,000 tons swung to a full-year net profit of 138 million Bahraini dinars ($366 million) in 2010 on higher sales.
Schmitt said Alba expected its full-year profit to rise this year on the back of higher aluminum prices, but declined to give a more precise outlook.
He said in addition to higher top-line revenues the company will also boost profits by about $70 million in cost savings and higher margins.
Alba is currently studying how to supply energy to a planned sixth production line that would boost its capacity by 400,000 tons annually.
Schmitt said Alba is negotiating with Bahrain’s government to receive more gas or electricity but is also considering replacing its power stations to improve energy efficiency.
He added that a decision on the expansion could be made in early 2012.
