Aurubis AG: Additional strain on quarterly and full-year results expected – Future Complex Metallurgy project is being stopped

Aurubis AG expects the current economic environment to strain the Q3 2018/19 result (previous year: operating EBT of € 78 million) and the full-year result (previous year: operating EBT of € 329 million).

Furthermore, during today’s meeting, the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of Aurubis AG passed a resolution to stop the internal investment project Future Complex Metallurgy (FCM). The basic engineering results indicated significantly higher investment costs than initially planned. The project is thus no longer as cost-effective as originally expected. Consequently, the project’s accrued investment costs will strain the Q3 result in the amount of about € 30 million.

The originally planned investment amount for FCM was supposed to be € 320 million. Aurubis had expected EBITDA contributions amounting to € 80 million starting in FY 2022/23.

Furthermore, the Supervisory Board passed a resolution to release Executive Board Chairman Jürgen Schachler, whose contract expires at the end of the month, from his duties with immediate effect. As already announced, Roland Harings, currently still Deputy Executive Board Chairman of Aurubis AG, will take office as Executive Board Chairman of Aurubis AG on July 1, 2019.

“Aurubis had strong expectations with the FCM project. It is painful to realize that the external and internal conditions have changed so much that cost-effective implementation of the project isn’t possible anymore. At a point in the project where crucial orders would have to be initiated but aren’t underway yet, a firm decision is the best course of action,” explained Roland Harings.

Aurubis maintains its strategy of continuing its development into a multi-metal provider. The acquisition of the Belgian-Spanish Metallo Group for a purchase price of € 380 million, for which a purchase agreement was signed in late May and which is still subject to approval by the relevant merger control authorities, is an important building block in the implementation of the strategy. Metallo, with its attractive growth potential, strengthens Aurubis’ multi-metal portfolio, especially the key metals copper, nickel, tin, zinc, and lead.

Moreover, Aurubis still intends to push forward with its strategy through internal growth projects as well, as Roland Harings confirmed: “In the scope of Aurubis’ further development into a multi-metal company and in the course of the Metallo acquisition, other internal growth options are presenting themselves, which we will now review in more depth.”