Top US aluminium producer Alcoa has beaten Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, buoyed by strength in its alumina segment.
But its shares slipped after the company did not provide a closely watched profit measure for the full year.
Alcoa's chief financial officer William Oplinger said the company was eliminating "the poorly point-in-time full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization outlook" given the unprecedented market volatility.
Alcoa said it expected the global aluminium deficit to extend into 2019 and estimated that its aluminium shipments would decline 500,000 to 600,000 tons year over year.
"Demand growth for primary aluminium in 2019 is expected to be robust, with global consumption growth in the range of 3-4%, driven by continued strong growth in China," Aloca's chief executive Roy Harvey said.
The company said it expected an alumina surplus in China in 2019, driven by refinery expansions and lower-than-expected smelting production.
Strong sales of alumina to third-party smelters, which jumped 20.8% to $1.13 billion, helped the company counter a fall in aluminium prices.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa has reaped mixed benefits from President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports into the US. The company has been hit by imports from its smelter in Canada.
Alcoa, which is closing two of its aluminium plants in Spain, said it expected an annual net income improvement of $70-$80m from the third quarter of 2019 from the closures.
Benchmark three-month aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange fell 5.7% in December, the steepest monthly drop since June, as the US said it would withdraw its sanctions on Russian aluminium giant Rusal.
Net income attributable to Alcoa was $43m, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended December 31, compared with a loss of $196m, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier.
The company's revenue rose 5.4% to $3.34 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 66 cents per share.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 50 cents per share, according to data from Refinitiv.
