Shares of Aurubis, Europe’s largest copper producer, fell by as much as 8.8% on Monday following a third-quarter earnings report that missed analysts’ expectations. The company’s earnings before tax (EBT) rose five-fold to €90 million ($98 million) compared to the same period last year, which was impacted by a significant metals theft at its smelting operations. However, this figure fell short of the average forecast of €99 million from analysts.
Compared to two years ago, EBT was down 13%, with the custom smelting and products business reporting €82 million in EBT, also a 13% decline from fiscal 2021-22. Revenue for this segment decreased by 7% compared to the same timeframe in 2021-22.
Traders noted that the results cast doubt on the analysts’ yearly EBT expectations of €467 million, especially given that good metal prices were anticipated to offset the impact of a major maintenance shutdown in Hamburg, which concluded in July.
Copper prices have declined approximately 18% since reaching record highs in May, influenced by weak job reports from the U.S. and poor factory data from China. Metzler analyst Thomas Schulte-Vorwick suggested that higher-than-expected costs related to the Hamburg shutdown and the opening of a new plant in the U.S. likely contributed to the earnings miss.
Aurubis reiterated its full-year guidance for EBT between €380-480 million and highlighted that the quarterly result was its best ever despite the major plant shutdown.