Aurubis plans to grow its recycling business through acquisitions over the next three years. The company is also looking to further diversify its non-copper metals business to decrease its dependence on copper.
According to a speech by Roland Haring, chairman, Aurubis, that was shared by the metals conglomerate before its annual general meeting, the company’s “multi-metals strategy” allowed it to lower its dependence on the copper market and its cycles.
The European copper giant—which reported an EBIT of €192mn in 2019 and expects it to remain in the range of €185-250mn in 2020—has the financial means to grow inorganically according to Haring, especially in the recycling business.
Growing recycling through acquisitions
The company’s recycling business is one of its key growth segments apart from copper concentrates and products. Haring said the company would continue developing this business over the next three years to increase its business share in the overall company profits and acquisitions were an important aspect of fulfilling this strategy.
In 2019, Aurubis had announced the acquisition of the Metallo Group as part of this strategy and expects to get the approval from the European Commission to close the acquisition by April. According to Haring, the complementary strengths of the two companies would help in increasing its capacity to recycle nickel, lead, zinc, and tin scrap. The company is also looking beyond Europe for acquisitions, especially in North America.
Aurubis in 2023
In three years, Haring said the company aims to have a strong multi-metals portfolio, where it would expand its volumes of processing metals well beyond copper through concentrates and recycling. Pointing to an increasing demand for specialty metals in Europe’s manufacturing industries to fulfill the EU’s current climate targets, Haring said there was ample opportunity for Aurubis to realize this demand through its products.
In its bid to sharpen its focus on metallurgy, the company is also looking to sell its flat rolled business and will continue to look at all available options to fulfill this objective.