Century Aluminum Company - Interim information (is)

Century Reports 2011 Financial Results

MONTEREY, CA--(Marketwire - February 23, 2012) - Century Aluminum Company
(NASDAQ: CENX) reported a net loss of $31.1 million ($0.35 per basic and
diluted common share) for the fourth quarter of 2011. Financial results were
positively impacted by an unrealized gain on forward contracts of $2.4 million
primarily related to the mark to market of aluminum price protection options.
Cost of sales for the quarter included a $6.3 million charge for lower of cost
or market inventory adjustments. 

For the fourth quarter of 2010, the company reported net income of $65.3
million ($0.65 per basic and $0.64 per diluted common share). Financial results
were negatively impacted by an unrealized loss on forward contracts of $5.6
million primarily related to the mark to market of aluminum price protection
options and by a contractual termination pension benefit charge of $4.6 million
due to the continued curtailment of the Ravenswood facility. Changes to the
Century of West Virginia retiree medical benefits program increased quarterly
results by $56.7 million with an associated discrete tax benefit of $2.0
million. Cost of sales for the quarter included a $15.9 million net after-tax
charge for the portion of power costs at Hawesville paid by the previous power
supplier per the terms of the power agreements. 

For 2011, the company reported net income of $11.3 million ($0.11 per basic and
diluted common share). Financial results were negatively impacted by a $7.7
million charge in the second quarter related to the contractual impact of
changes in the company's Board of Directors and the executive management team,
a charge of $2.9 million related to an insurance receivable, and a charge of
$0.8 million related to the early retirement of debt. Changes to the Century of
West Virginia retiree medical benefits program increased results by $18.3
million with an associated discrete tax benefit of $4.2 million. An unrealized
gain on forward contracts, primarily related to the mark to market of aluminum
price protection options, positively impacted results by $0.8 million. Cost of
sales included an $8.6 million charge related to the restart of a curtailed
potline at the Hawesville, KY smelter, and a $19.8 million charge for lower of
cost or market inventory adjustments. 

For 2010, the company reported net income of $60.0 million ($0.59 per basic and
diluted common share). Financial results were negatively impacted by an
unrealized loss on forward contracts of $10.0 million primarily related to the
mark to market of aluminum price protection options and by a contractual
termination pension benefit charge of $4.6 million due to the continued
curtailment of the Ravenswood facility. Changes to the Century of West Virginia
retiree medical benefits program increased results by $56.7 million with an
associated discrete tax benefit of $2.0 million. Tax benefits related to the
release of tax reserves no longer required positively impacted results by $2.1
million. Cost of sales included a $63.2 million net after-tax charge for the
portion of power costs at Hawesville paid by the previous power supplier per
the terms of the power agreements. 

Sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $318.2 million compared with $316.9
million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Shipments of primary aluminum for the
2011 fourth quarter were 155,649 tonnes compared with 148,923 tonnes shipped in
the year-ago quarter. Sales for 2011 were $1,356 million compared with $1,169
million for 2010, and total 2011 primary aluminum shipments of 602,142 tonnes
compared with 585,395 tonnes shipped in 2010. "We continue to see generally favorable conditions in our markets," commented
Michael Bless, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Trends in end customer
demand remain good across a range of key segments. In the U.S., physical
premiums remain supportive and interest in higher margin specialty products
continues to be strong. The increase in large-user power costs, pervasive
across developed economies, is a serious ongoing challenge which is threatening
the long-term competitiveness of what would otherwise be very good businesses.
We are spending considerable effort to address this challenge to our U.S.
smelters. Broader market conditions remain volatile, and will continue to be
sensitive to, amongst other developments, the environment in the Eurozone and
in the Chinese economy. With this background, we plan to invest in 2012 in
growing and improving our businesses, while continuing to prepare for
reasonable contingencies. "We are pleased with the Company's recent performance," continued Bless."Though we always expect continuing improvement, safety trends have been
gratifying these last few months; the Board and I would like to acknowledge the
efforts of all employees toward this, our first priority. As forecast,
Hawesville returned to near full production by year-end. Key performance
indicators have continued to improve, conversion costs have fallen, metal
quality has improved and fourth quarter production was up 12 percent versus the
third quarter. Across our businesses, we have begun to see some abatement in
the recent significant increases in raw material costs. In Iceland,
Grundartangi had an excellent quarter, and has fully recovered from the
temporary instability caused by the power interruption in early January. In
late December, we received the ruling related to the arbitration with one of
the power suppliers for the new plant at Helguvik. The ruling was generally
favorable to Nordura l and we are now in discussions with both power suppliers
aimed at reaching, over the next several months, final agreements which will
allow us to recommence major project activity."

Century Aluminum Company owns primary aluminum capacity in the United States
and Iceland. Century's corporate offices are located in Monterey, Calif. More
information can be found at www.centuryaluminum.com. 

Century Aluminum's quarterly conference call is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Eastern
time today. To listen to the conference call and to view related presentation
materials, go to www.centuryaluminum.com and click on the conference call link
on the homepage. 

Certified Advisors for the First North market of the OMX Nordic Exchange
Iceland hf. for Global Depositary Receipts in Iceland: 
Atli B. Gudmundsson, Senior Manager -- Corporate Finance, NBI hf.
Steingrimur Helgason, Director -- Corporate Finance, NBI hf.

Cautionary Statement
This press release and comments made by Century management on the quarterly
conference call contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements
are statements about future, not past, events and involve certain important
risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause our actual results to differ
materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements, including,
without limitation, declines in aluminum prices or increases in our operating
costs; deterioration of global or local financial and economic conditions;
additional delays in the completion of our Helguvik, Iceland smelter, including
our ability to secure a reliable power supply and our ability to successfully
manage and/or improve performance at each of our operating smelters.
Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation,
statements regarding future market and economic conditions, inc luding the
continuance of demand, pricing and cost trends in the aluminum market; our
plans to invest in and grow our business in 2012; and our ability reach final
agreements with the power suppliers to our Helguvik, Iceland smelter and
recommence major project activity. More information about these risks,
uncertainties and assumptions can be found in the risk factors and
forward-looking statements cautionary language contained in our Annual Report
on Form 10-K and in other filings made with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. We do not undertake, and specifically disclaim, any obligation to
revise any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future
events or circumstances.

Attachments:

CENTURYALUMINUM_8K_20120223.pdf