Aluminium giant Alcoa said on April 10 it swung into profit in the first quarter as it slashed production to cope with a softer global economy and high commodity prices.
After the stock market closed, Alcoa, the first member of the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average to report earnings this year, reported net income of $94 million, following a $191 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Excluding special items, Alcoa earned 10 cents per share, surprising analysts who on average estimated a loss of four cents.
Sales also beat forecasts, rising to $6.01 billion in the first three months of the year, slightly more than in the prior and year-ago quarters.
While an improvement, the first-quarter profit was sharply below the year-ago profit of $308 million.
The world's largest producer of aluminium said the quarter-on-quarter rebound was driven by strong productivity improvements across all its businesses, higher prices for aluminium, and a better volume and mix.
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