October 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian aluminium products manufacturer Alcomet [BUL:ALCM] said on Monday that it generated a standalone net profit of 34 million levs ($17.3 million/17.4 million euro) in the first nine months of 2022, sharply up from a profit of 742,000 levs in the like period of last year.
Alcomet's revenue jumped to 589.4 million levs in January-September from 374.6 million levs in the first nine months of 2021, the company said in an interim financial statement.
Expenses also increased significantly, to 547.3 million levs from 370.9 million levs, as a result of higher costs for raw materials, hired services and personnel.
In terms of volume, Alcomet's total sales dropped by 10.34% on the year to 58,679 mt in the period under review. This was a consequence of reduced global demand under the negative influence of the ongoing war in Ukraine and increases in the prices of energy and energy distribution, transport and logistics.
Sales of extruded products went down by an annual 3.55% to 20,995 mt, while sales of rolled products declined by 13.7% to 37,684 mt.
There was a 69% surge in sales of special aluminium profiles, with the strong performance mostly linked to a rise in demand by the solar photovoltaic industry. By contrast, sales of aluminium sheets and strips stagnated, leading to large amounts of overstocked production in warehouses.
Germany remained Alcomet's biggest market in the first nine months of 2022 with a 19.8% share of all sales, followed by Italy with 14.6% and Poland with 12.0%.
The company's output slipped by 12.7% on the year to 57,287 mt in the January-September period. The volume of rolled products went down to 37,425 mt from 44,364 mt a year earlier, whereas extruded products output declined to 19,861 mt from 21,239 mt.
As at 1126 CET on Monday, shares of Alcomet traded 16.43% higher at 8.15 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
Alcomet produces household, technical and container foils, sheets and strips, as well as standard and customised profiles.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)