Comalco Nz To Expand On Profit Rise

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday July 10, 1989

Source: Reuter

WELLINGTON: Aluminium producer Comalco New Zealand Ltd, a wholly owned unit of Comalco Ltd, has announced a $NZ500 million ($A384 million) expansion program after reporting a net after-tax profit of $NZ173.04 million for the last calender year.

This compares with an $NZ92.57 million profit a year earlier.

Comalco NZ bought its parent's NZ interests, with effect from July 1, 1988, it said in a statement.

It also revealed that it could spend up to $NZ500 million on upgrading and expanding its South Island aluminium smelter if it reached a power supply deal with Electricity Corp of New Zealand Ltd.

The managing director, Mr Kerry McDonald, told a news conference that Comalco would consider adding a fourth potline, expanding annual capacity by 100,000 tonnes at what the company says is the non-communist world's eighth largest aluminium smelter.

The smelter's output was 257,000 tonnes in 1988, compared with 248,365 tonnes in 1987.

The smelter is owned by New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd, which is 79.36 per cent-held by Comalco NZ and 20.64 per cent owned by Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd.

Comalco NZ has proposed a joint venture to buy Electricorp's hydro-electric assets at Lake Manapouri, in the South Island, the smelter's main power source, to remove uncertainty over power supplies.

Comalco suggested the Manapouri joint-venture company would be 25 per cent owned by Comalco and Sumitomo, 50 per cent by the New Zealand public and 25 per cent by State-owned Electricorp.