Aurubis continues to calculate impact of fraud case

Hamburg, Germany-based Aurubis AG, which this September reported it had been victimized by large-volume purchases of metallic inputs with misrepresented metals content, is delaying its final fiscal year financial report by two weeks as it needs additional time to fully account for the case.

Aurubis' preliminary fiscal year 2022-2023 results show the firm’s bottom line was “significantly influenced" by the financial impact of the criminal activities directed against it, which were recognized in profit or loss in the past fiscal year.

The company's preliminary results for the 2022-2023 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 show operating earnings before taxes (EBT) of 349 million euros ($382.4 million). That is down 34.4 percent from 532 million euros ($583 million) of EBT in the previous fiscal year. Nonetheless, Aurubis says, the projected EBT figure is at the upper end of the most recent forecast set for the past fiscal year.

The company's operating return on capital employed (ROCE) is likely to come in at 11.3 percent. That figure—again owing to the fraud case—was down from the previous fiscal year ROCE of 19 percent.

The company, which has an existing facility in Buffalo, New York, and a sizable recycled-content copper production site under construction in Georgia, says additional and final details on its 2022-2023 fiscal year results will be disclosed Dec. 20.

That is two weeks behind the company’s original financial calendar date of Dec. 6. “The postponement is due to the additional time needed to address the investigation of the criminal activities directed against Aurubis and the impact on preparing and auditing the financial statements,” according to the firm.