Automotive strategy drives strong financial results for Novelis

By Rob Cole | 11 August 2017 | Add a Comment

A focused automotive strategy has contributed to aluminium rolling and recycling business Novelis posting strong financial figures for the first quarter of the 2017/18 fiscal year, recording a net income of $101 million (£77.5 million), up from $24 million (£18.42 million) for the same period last year.

Aided by the company’s closed-loop recycling systems, shipments of higher conversion premium automotive products increased by 16 per cent, helping to boost net sales to $2.7 billion (£2.07 billion), up 16 per cent from the previous year.

Novelis has been working with Jaguar Land Rover to develop closed loop systems for automotive manufacture as part of the REALCAR project

Commenting on the report, Steve Fisher, President and Chief Executive Officer for Novelis, said: "Our automotive strategy, enhanced operational performance and strong customer relationships resulted in record first quarter shipments while also increasing Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) per tonne.

"Leveraging our unmatched global manufacturing footprint, innovative technology and closed-loop recycling systems, Novelis has become a preferred choice for automotive aluminum sheet. As more and more automakers turn to aluminum solutions to produce the next generation of vehicles, we are actively looking at opportunities to increase capacity to support our customers and reinforce our leadership position in this growing market."

A project run by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) with Novelis to develop a closed-loop on car manufacture, REALCAR, reclaimed over 50,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap in 2015/16, the equivalent to almost 200,000 Jaguar XE body shells. Revealing those figures last year, Novelis also said that with the saving on primary aluminium material use, the project had prevented more than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere.

The company’s increase in net income, which rises to $103 million (£79 million) when excluding tax-affected special items, has been largely spurred by higher EBITDA and lower interest expenses following debt restructuring in 2016/17.

More information on Novelis’ first quarter financial results can be found on the company’s website.