Rusal looks up after associate performs better than expected

UC Rusal （0486）, the world's largest aluminum maker, revised its interim net profit up by US$97 million （HK$754.66 million） to US$136.5 billion.

That followed a better-than-expected first-half result from MMC Norilsk Nickel, in which it has a 25 percent stake.

"UC Rusal estimated its share in profits of Norilsk Nickel for the first six months of 2010 based on publicly available information," it said yesterday.

The first result came in August, while Norilsk figures were out on October 7.

Rusal went into profit from a net loss of HK$868 million in the first half of 2009. Its net profit margin reached 25.7 percent in the six months to June 30 compared with 23.8 percent in the interim report. Its share of profits of associates, including Norilsk, was US$555 million.

Gearing ratio of heavily indebted Rusal went to 50.9 percent from 51.1 percent. Rusal shares fell 2.2 percent to HK$9.78 yesterday, or 9.44 percent down on January's HK$10.80 when it was the first Russian firm to list here.