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Alcoa net profit falls below estimates

Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminum producer, posted a lower net profit Monday, despite higher revenue from soaring metal prices, because it took a charge for divesting non-core businesses.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Despite strong demand and higher prices for aluminum, Alcoa’s fourth quarter profits fell 7.9 percent, largely from the sale of noncore businesses.

Alcoa Inc. on Monday reported net income of $268 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a profit of $291 million, or 33 cents a share, for the same period last year. Excluding losses from discontinued operations, the company made $345 million, or 39 cents per share.

The results, excluding a $77 million after-tax charge, were a penny below expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

For the quarter ending Dec. 31, Alcoa had revenues of $6.04 billion, up 12 percent from $5.4 billion during the fourth quarter of 2003.

Before the fourth quarter results were released, Alcoa shares fell 22 cents to close at $30.47 on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the year, Pittsburgh-based Alcoa reported a profit of $1.3 billion, up 39.7 percent from $938 million last year. Last year, Alcoa posted company-high sales of $23.5 billion dollars, up 11 percent from $21.1 billion in 2003.

Alcoa has 120,000 employees and operates in 41 countries, primarily in North America and Europe.

Alcoa Inc., the world's biggest aluminum producer, on Monday posted a lower net profit, despite higher revenue from soaring metal prices, because it took a charge for divesting non-core businesses.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said net income was $268 million, or 30 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $291 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. However, income from continuing operations rose to $345 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, up slightly from $342 million, or 39 cents, in the same quarter last year.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 12 percent to $6.0 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 42 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.