More bad numbers from Norsk Hydro

Norwegian industrial concern Norsk Hydro, now mostly a metals producer, is finally enjoying a rise in aluminum prices, but they’re coming too late to boost last year’s results. Hydro saw operating revenues slide NOK 21 billion in 2009, from NOK 88.4 billion in 2008 to NOK 67.4 billion last year, while operating profits fell to a loss of NOK 1.4 billion, down from a profit of NOK 1.2 billion in 2008. Most of its aluminum plants lost money last year when prices fell 35 percent as a direct result of the global economic downturn. Hydro thus warned that it may need to close more facilities, and workers may lose their jobs. Its Sunndal and Søral plants in Norway are only operating at 25 and 50 percent of capacity, reports newspaper Aftenposten. Hydro, which sold off its oil and gas operations to Statoil and spun off its fertilizer business into what’s now Yara International ASA, already has been through several rounds of staff cuts throughout the company.
By Views and News staff