Aluminium producer Norsk Hydro posted a smaller-than-expected drop in second-quarter core earnings on Tuesday and said the weak market called for capacity adjustment and operational improvements.
"We are now finalising programs across Hydro which in total will yield improvements in the range of 2-3 billion crowns over the next two-three years," Chief Executive Svein Richard Brandtzaeg said.
April-June underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell to 549 million Norwegian crowns ($90.18 million), from 1.91 billion crowns in the year-ago period, while the mean forecast in a Reuters poll had been for a 494 million crown profit.
The Norwegian company said it expected global demand for aluminium outside China would grow about 2 percent in 2012, a downward adjustment from its previous forecast for a 3 percent growth. ($1 = 6.0876 Norwegian crowns)
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