Norsk Hydro Declares Firm Measures to Cut Costs and Investment

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  Norway-based aluminium maker Norsk Hydro announced a series of mitigating actions across company operations, in line with the challenging market conditions due to coronavirus outbreak.

The Board of Directors have decided not to propose to the General Meeting a dividend of NOK 1.25 per share as previously announced. It had earlier communicated that the dividend will be paid in May 2020. In order to safeguard liquidity, the company has decided to hold 25% of remaining capital expenditure for the current year. The Board has also put salary revision and bonus payments on hold.

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Norsk Hydro announced that it has decided to postpone the restart of 95,000 mt capacity at the Husnes aluminium facility. The ramp up, previously planned to commence in the initial half of 2020, has now been postponed to third quarter, subject to improvement in market conditions.

Hilde Merete Aasheim, CEO noted that the forceful mitigating actions and contingency plans, the company aims to continue operations to the extent possible to the benefit of its employees and their communities. Norsk Hydro will continuously evaluate further measures as situation develops, she added.