*
Inflation prospects improving, overall outlook uncertain
*
Won't restart idled smelters
*
Share price down 3.4%
(Adds idled smelters, updates shares, analyst comment)
OSLO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Norwegian aluminium producer
Norsk Hydro posted a bigger-than-expected fall in
fourth-quarter core profit on Tuesday and said it would refrain
from restarting idled smelters for the time being amid an
"unpredictable" outlook for 2023.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA) fell to 7.18 billion Norwegian crowns
($711.6 million) for the three-months ending December 31, from
9.01 billion crowns a year earlier, lagging an average analyst
forecast of 7.37 billion crowns.
Norsk Hydro's shares traded 3.4% lower at 0952 GMT,
underperforming a 0.2% fall in the Oslo Benchmark index.
"Looking into 2023, we see a more unpredictable landscape,
yet with a more positive outlook in terms of inflationary
pressure and macroeconomic development than just a few months
ago," Hydro Chief Executive Hilde Merete Aasheim said in a
statement.
While prospects for the global economy had improved since
November-December, Hydro would not reverse the curtailments of
some 130,000 tonnes-per-year of aluminium capacity at its
Norwegian plants, Chief Financial Officer Paal Kildemo said.
"As we see it now there is still uncertainty and we'll have
to monitor market developments going forward before announcing
potentially the restart of these units," he told analysts on an
earnings call.
Aluminium prices, which last year hit record highs above
$4,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, on Monday were at
a five-week low of $2,410 a tonne.
Market expectations for Hydro's EBITDA results this year
would likely be cut by "low single digits," JP Morgan said in a
note to clients.
Hydro plans to pay a dividend of 5.65 crowns for 2022, less
than the 7.50 crowns expected by analysts and down from 6.85
crowns paid for 2021.
The company said it also plans share buybacks worth 2 billion crowns. Capital expenditure will hit 13.6 billion crowns this year, partly lifted by inflation and a weak Norwegian currency, up from 11.5 billion last year, while easing to 12.5 billion per year from 2024 to 2026, it said. ($1 = 10.0906 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Aditional reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen; Editing by Tom Hogue and Mike Harrison)
