Rio Tinto set Alcan costs-saving at 1.1b dollars
Thursday, Mar 13, 2008
点击:
London, March. 12—R Rio Tinto said Wednesday that it aimed to achieve annual cost-savings of about 1.1 billion US dollars (716 million euros) by 2009 from its purchase of Alcan.
Rio Tinto, which is currently fending off a takeover approach from resources giant BHP Billiton, bought Canadian aluminium group Alcan for 38.1 billion dollars last year.
The acquisition was completed in October and resulted in the creation of new aluminum division Rio Tinto Alcan.
"We look forward to the synergies from the acquisition," said Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese in a company statement.
"Our internal target is 1.1 billion dollars, exceeding the 940 million dollars after tax synergies announced in November 2007."
On a pro forma basis -- calculated as if the company had owned Alcan all year -- Rio Tinto Alc
Rio Tinto Alcan's net profits surged to 2.092 billion dollars last year, which represented 23 percent of Rio Tinto Group's annual pro forma net profits.
Looking ahead, Rio Tinto said it expected significant earnings momentum in 2008.
Albanese added: "These pro forma numbers reinforce the significance of the Alcan acquisition, which has transformed our aluminium group into an industry leader and the third major business within Rio Tinto.
"The strong fundamentals of the aluminium industry and the excellent long term demand outlook augur well for Rio Tinto Alcan's future financial performance."
Earlier this year, BHP Billiton increased its takeover proposal for Rio Tinto to 147.4 billion dollars.
The proposed link-up between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the world's largest and third largest miners respectively, would create a behemoth leading the planet in coking coal, thermal coal, copper and aluminium production.