Alcoa reports earnings in-line with forecasts; predicts higher demand

The sluggish global economy has weakened prices for aluminum used in everything from airplanes to soda cans.

But Alcoa forecast demand growing 7 percent in 2013, up from a 6-percent gain in 2012. It sees the best prospects in aerospace but slower improvement in demand for autos, packaging, and building and construction materials.

Separately, the company announced that Chief Financial Officer Charles D. McLane Jr., 59, will retire and be replaced by William F. Oplinger, the chief operating officer of Alcoa's primary-products business unit. The change will happen April 1.

Oplinger, 45, joined Alcoa in 2000 and has held several finance and planning jobs. He is on the executive council, which plots company strategy.

In the fourth quarter, Alcoa's net income was US$242 million, or 21 cents per share. That includes one-time gains like income from selling a hydroelectric project on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

Without those gains, the company would have made 6 cents per share — exactly what analysts expected, according to FactSet — on revenue of US$5.90 billion. Sales were higher than the US$5.58 billion that analysts predicted.

A year ago, the company posted a fourth-quarter loss of US$191 million, or 18 cents per share, on revenue of US$5.99 billion, and a loss after special items of 3 cents per share.

The company said it hit record profits in its aluminum-rolling and product-making businesses while cutting costs in its mining and refining or “upstream” segment.

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