Mukah smelter up and running again

Press Metal Bhd’s aluminium smelting plant in Mukah, which was badly damaged by a statewide power outage last June, is now up and running again.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Koon Poh Keong said the rebuilt facility, which went fully operational last month, was expected to contribute positively to earnings in the current quarter.

The Mukah plant, which has an annual production capacity of 120,000 tonnes, was shut down after its smelting pots were damaged by the blackout.

Press Metal Sarawak Sdn Bhd, which owns the plant, had provided an estimated RM90mil for both assets written off and operating loss.

During the re-commissioning stage earlier this year, the smelter incurred an additional except- ional loss of RM2.2mil, according to Koon.

He said due to these losses and lower aluminium price, Press Metal’s pre-tax profit only increased marginally to RM36.4mil in the quarter ended March 31, 2014, from RM35.3mil in the same period last year — despite a 23.9% jump in revenue to RM897.1mil from RM724.2mil previously.

Earnings per share rose to 5.48 sen from 4.97 sen.

“Higher revenue was contributed by the Bintulu smelting plant, which had achieved full operations in fourth quarter of 2013,” said Koon.

The Bintulu facility is more than two times larger than the one in Mukah, in terms of installed production capacity.

On the current year’s prospects, Koon said the overall business environment remained challenging in view of higher operational cost and low commodity prices.

However, he said demand for aluminium remained strong and the products’ premium had increased.

“Our management will remain focused in improving its operatio-nal efficiency and enhancing its value-added products in order to stay competitive in the market.”

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