UAE - Mubasher: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) reported net profits of AED 1.74 billion ($473 million) during the first half (H1) of 2021, against net losses of AED 208 million ($57 million) in the same half of 2020.

The company has turned to profitability amid strong London Metal Exchange (LME) prices for aluminium and a high percentage of value-added products, according to a press release on Monday.

The benchmark LME prices for aluminium averaged $2,245 per tonne in H1-21, compared to $1,592 per tonne in H1 2020.

The company generated revenues of AED 10.8 billion ($2.94 billion) in H1-21, up from AED 9 billion ($2.46 billion) in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) has hiked by 111% to AED 3.49 billion ($950 million) in the first six months of 2021, compared to AED 1.66 billion ($451 million) in the corresponding period of 2020.

The CEO of EGA, Abdulnasser bin Kalban, said: "Global demand for aluminium, the metal that makes modern life possible, is high as economies rebound from COVID-19."

Kalban remarked: "Our metal production was slightly lower, and we are upgrading our carbon plants and debottlenecking elsewhere to return to metal output growth. Like many other industrial companies, we were also affected by global logistics challenges including container availability, and we are adopting different approaches in response such as break-bulk shipping."