(05/02/2018)

Paranapanema, Brazilian largest refined copper producer, ended its 1Q18 period with net income amounting to BRL 1.02 billion, which means a 32% increase year-over-year.

“We began the year by continuing the Company’s resumption process and we remained fully focused on restoring profitability of our operations,” asserted Marcos Camara, Paranapanema CEO. According to the officer, there were two governing factors over the first three months of the year: the increased sales volume and the 16% decrease to the expenses as compared to 1Q17 period.

The company also accounted for a negative EBITDA in the amount of BRL 44.2 million and net losses of BRL 49.1 million in the period, which was caused by incidents to the production of our operating plant in Bahia, which resulted into increased downtime expenses, as well as by the initial period of the preventive maintenance at the end of March. Maintenance will recover the operating reliability for the production line in Dias d’Ávila.

Sales over the first three months of the year amounted to 39.2 thousand tons, a 10% rise year-over-year. At the primary copper segment, the company sold 11.3 thousand tons, especially to the Chinese market. Sales of copper products in turn amounted to 27.9 thousand tons over the period, a 19% increase.

In the domestic market, the core sectors served by the company are Industry (wires and cables), Metallurgy and Mechanics, Civil Construction, Energy, Resales and Cooling. The last two sectors showed significant growth within one year, representing, together, 23% of the total sales of Paranapanema.

As to production, the total income registered by the company between January and March was 62.5 thousand tons, out of which 27.4 thousand tons were of primary copper and 35.1 thousand tons were of copper products.

About Paranapanema

Paranapanema S.A. is the largest domestic primary copper producer, accounting for production and sales of cathodes, wire rods, drawn wire, laminates, bars, tubes and connections made of copper and copper alloys. The company ended the year 2017 with BRL 3.5 billion for income and exported its products to nearly 30 countries. The company was set-up in 1961 and became a publicly traded company in 1971, joining B3 New Market since 2012. Paranapanema owns three industrial units, in the Industrial Zone of Camaçari, in Dias d’Ávila (BA), in Santo André (SP) and in Serra (ES). For further information, please access www.paranapanema.com.br