Steel Guru : Kaiser Aluminum announces Q3 and 9 months financial results

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation reported net income of USD 23 million and earnings per diluted share of USD 1.14 for the Q3 ended September 30th 2009. Excluding the positive impact of approximately USD 30 million of pre tax, non run rate items and adjusted net income was USD 5.5 million and earnings per diluted share were USD 0.27 for the Q3 ended September 30th 2009.

Year to date, reported net income was USD 46 million compared to USD 40 million in the prior year period. Earnings per diluted share were USD 2.31 for the nine months ended September 30th 2009 as compared to USD 1.93 for the prior year period. The year to date 2009 earnings results included approximately USD 31 million of pre tax, non run rate gains compared to USD 15 million of pretax, non run rate losses in the comparable 2008 period.

Mr Jack A Hockema president, CEO and chairman of Kaiser Aluminum said that "Q3 underlying operating results were consistent with the business outlook we provided last quarter and continue to reflect a challenging economic and market environment. Although overall demand remained weak, we experienced a modest sequential increase in shipments as service center de-stocking moderated and automotive build rates increased during the quarter. Aerospace plate shipments remain solid, largely driven by higher contractual business facilitated by the Trentwood facility expansion. Shipments of aerospace plate during the Q3, however, were negatively impacted by the timing of orders that shifted to the Q4 while shipments of all other aerospace products were comparable to the second quarter 2009."

He said that "We continue to experience steady improvement in manufacturing efficiencies and underlying cost performance, and we are on track to achieve our cost improvement objective for the H2 2009, equivalent to our record 2007 baseline. Our efforts to realign inventories and prudently manage our balance sheet have further strengthened our already solid financial position, providing a competitive advantage going forward. Year to date, we have generated over USD 130 million of cash from operations and working capital improvements, increased our net cash position, continued to fund our strategic investment in Kalamazoo and maintained our quarterly dividend."