KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd’s share price rose to a new high on Wednesday (Feb 16) amid escalating fears that reduced supplies from Russia would exacerbate existing shortages of the industrial metal.

The aluminium smelter ended the day at RM7 for a gain of 16 sen or 2.34% from Tuesday.  

This gives the group a market capitalisation of RM56.53 billion based on 8.08 billion outstanding shares while trading at 71.84 times earnings, based on Bloomberg data.

Aluminium prices have climbed towards multi-year highs. On Monday, Reuters reported that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could mean sanctions against Russian companies such as Rusal, which accounts for about 5% of the global aluminium supply.

Despite Russia’s repeated denials that it is preparing to invade Ukraine, the industrial metal’s price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit US$3,333 per tonne last week, close to the record high of US$3,380.15 last seen in July 2008, the report said.

The metal’s prices retreated from its near-record high to US$3,285 on Wednesday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged President Vladimir Putin to take a diplomatic approach to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Meanwhile, aluminium stocks at 868.950 tonnes have more than halved since March 2021 as cancelled warrants — metal earmarked for delivery — at 30% suggests that more aluminium will be delivered over the near future, according to Reuters.

Year to date, Press Metal shares have appreciated by 23.67% or RM1.34 in absolute ringgit value. Last April, the group had undertaken a bonus issue of 4.04 billion shares on the basis of one free share for every existing share held.