Russian aluminium giant Rusal posted a second-quarter profit of $440 million on Monday amid higher market prices for the metal, remaining well in the black despite sanctions imposed on the company earlier this year by Washington. Recurring net profit at Hong Kong-listed Rusal was up 75 percent from a year ago, but down 17 percent from the first quarter of 2018. The earnings figures were the first to be released since sanctions were imposed in early April.
Its net profit was bolstered by an 18 percent rise in the LME aluminium price over the period, while Rusal's aluminium and alloys sales fell 22 percent year-on-year to 783,000 tonnes. The US Treasury imposed sanctions against billionaire Oleg Deripaska and eight companies in which he is a large shareholder, including aluminum exporter Rusal, in response to what it termed "malign activities" by Russia.
The sanctions, the toughest since Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea, roiled aluminum markets and were later watered down. The Treasury Department has since warmed to the idea of removing Rusal from the list altogether. The sanctions also have had a neutral effect on Rusal's net debt, which stood at $7.88 billion at the end of June compared with $7.9 billion at the end of March.
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