Swedish rolled aluminium firm Gränges AB released results for the first half of the year on Friday. The firm experienced continued strong profits in the period as well as enjoying a solid cash flow.
In the second quarter Gränges saw sales volumes fall to 120.5 thousand metric tons, dropping by 1.7 percent. Net sales fell to SEK6,008 million in the quarter, down from SEK6,875 million. Adjusted operating profit rose from SEK348 million to SEK450 million, while operating profit rose by SEK40 million to SEK450 million.
Profit in the first quarter rose from SEK274 million to SEK316 million, while cash flow rose from SEK722 million to SEK779 million. Gränges increased its share of sourced recycled aluminium from 35.4 percent to 41.2 percent in the second quarter.
For the year’s first half, Gränges sales volume totaled SEK240.6 thousand metric tons, off by 3.5 percent from SEK259.2 thousand metric tons. Sales volume came to SEK11,976 million, down from SEK12,995 million. Adjusting operating profit in the first half rose to SEK851 million, and the operating profit rose to SEK570 million. Cash flow before financing activities adjusted for expansion investments and acquisitions was SEK 1,066 million, reversing from –SEK502 million.
Jörgen Rosengren, Gränges President and CEO, said in a press release that his firm is in a good place for the second half of the year.
“I’m now more confident than ever that the energized, focused, and strong global Gränges team will succeed with our strategy for sustainable growth.”
Begun in 1873 in Stockholm, Sweden as Trafik AB Grängesberg-Oxelösund, Gränges AB was resurrected in 2013 as a private company specializing in rolled aluminium heat exchangers. It employs almost 1,800 employees at the present time at two plants – one in Finspång, Sweden, that opened in its present configuration in 1972, and a second in Shanghai, China, opened in 1996. The firm boasts a total nameplate capacity of 420 thousand metric tons per annum and an annual sales total of SEK13 billion (US$1.35 billion).
