The copper producing and recycling group Aurubis has ended the first quarter of its 2012/13 financial year with increases in both revenues and operating profit. According the earnings report released by the Hamburg-based concern on Wednesday, earnings before tax for the period between October and December stood at €140m compared with €86m in the prior-year period.
Lower precious metal inventories at the quarterly balance sheet date let to positive effects of €65m, which, however, will be eliminated through an expected inventory building later in the year, reported Aurubis. Adjusted for this extraordinary effect, operating EBT lay at €76m, and with that €10m lower than reported in the same period a year earlier. The group's revenues rose 8 per cent to €3.4bn for the three-month reporting period, due in no small part to higher cathode and precious metals sales.