Alcoa releases first-quarter results for 2009

摘要

Alcoa has released details of its first-quarter results for 2009. These revealed a 27 percent sequential drop in revenue resulting in a loss of 480 million dollars for the first quarter of 2009, reflecting the impact of the economic downturn on its core industrial and commercial markets as well as an historic decline in aluminum prices. In the quarter, the Company launched a series of operational and financial actions that successfully increased cash, strengthened liquidity and significantly improved the Company's cost structure. Revenues for the first quarter 2009 were 4.1 billion dollars, down from 5.7 billion dollars in the fourth quarters 2008 and down 36 percent from 6.5 billion dollars in revenues in the first quarter of 2008 after excluding divested businesses. The sharp drop in revenue resulted from the impact of the economic downturn on Alcoa's end markets -- automotive, transportation, building and construction and aerospace. As demand weakened during the quarter in those markets, realised metal prices fell an additional 558 dollars a ton -- a 26 percent price decline --resulting in prices that are now about 60 percent lower than last summer.