Lithium producer Albemarle expects recovery in sales as results top estimates
Lithium miner Albemarle reported a better-than-expected quarter on Wednesday after taking steps to cut costs to battle lower demand and said it sees higher volumes in the current year.
After the coronavirus dented growth prospects last year, Albemarle and its peers like SQM are now expecting to cash in on surging demand for the battery metal lithium, critical to electric vehicles that have become massively popular amid climate change concerns.
Albemarle has earlier said it looks to double production at its lithium facility in Silver Peak, Nevada, part of a plan to boost supply for the burgeoning electric vehicle market, while Chilean miner SQM has said its current plans to boost its production of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide by the second half of 2021 remained on track.
"Longer-term, we expect lithium demand to grow in line with greater EV adoption. We are accelerating our lithium growth projects to capitalize on this trend and generate strong investment returns," Albemarle said on Wednesday.
However, Albemarle warned that it expects pricing to be down slightly, and forecast adjusted profit in the range of $3.25 to $3.65 a share for 2021. It earned a profit of $4.12 a share in 2020.
In the lithium business, the company's largest, sales fell 12.8% in the fourth quarter primarily due to lower contract and market pricing.
On an adjusted basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company earned $1.17 a share, beating estimates of $1.10 a share, according to Refinitiv IBES.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation