Alcoa Corporation is permanently shutting down its Point Comfort alumina refinery in Texas, and in the process reducing its annual alumina capacity by 2.3mn mt.
The closure will augment the company’s net income by $15mn beginning next year, while its share of cash savings—Alcoa owns 60pc of Point Comfort and Alumina Limited owns the remaining 40pc—will amount to roughly $10mn.
While the refinery’s output is 2.3mn mt per annum, it has been curtailed since June 2016. In October 2019, Alcoa announced a review of its global operational capacities in an effort to further reduce expenses and buoy its profitability. The company is reviewing about 4mn mt of its alumina capacity, which comprises 27pc of its worldwide refining capacity.
Alcoa intends to record restructuring charges of $175mn (after-tax and non-controlling interest) in Q4 2019.