BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's largest copper smelter Aurubis scrapped its existing dividend policy and announced 530 million euro ($562.44 million) of growth-oriented investments, the company said on Tuesday, expanding plants in the U.S. state of Georgia and in Hamburg, Germany.
Finalising its accounts for fiscal year 2021/22, the company reported operating earnings before tax (EBT) of 532 million euros, up from an adjusted 381 million euros the year before.
In November, the company's CEO Roland Harings told Reuters that strong growth in copper demand from the renewables and electric vehicles sectors had compensated for a fall in demand from the construction sector.
Despite this, the company trimmed its earnings forecast corridor for operating EBT for 2022/23 to 400 to 500 million euros, down from 500-600 million euros the previous year.
The company would pay dividends for 2021/22 of 1.80 euros per share, it said.
($1 = 0.9423 euros)