HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Amidst the turmoil surrounding the consequences of high fraud losses and a restructuring of the Executive Board, Aurubis has started the new fiscal year with a drop in profits. Higher smelting and refining charges, for example for copper concentrate and scrap, were offset by lower prices for metals and sulphuric acid - a by-product of copper production. This was compounded by higher legal and consultancy costs. With a 5 percent drop in turnover to 3.9 billion euros, the operating pre-tax result in the first quarter (end of December) fell by 10 percent to 111 million euros compared to the same period last year, as the company announced in Hamburg on Tuesday. The bottom line also fell by 10 percent to 89 million euros.

The Group management around Roland Harings, who is still head of Aurubis, is still aiming for an operating pre-tax profit of 380 to 480 million euros for the full financial year. Although this is more than the 349 million euros achieved in 2022/23, cases of fraud and theft had also burdened the Hamburg-based company with 139 million euros.

The loss of millions of euros also led to criticism of the risk management of the company's managers. As a result - as has been known since January - almost the entire Executive Board has to go. Aurubis CEO Roland Harings, Chief Financial Officer Rainer Verhoeven and Chief Production Officer Heiko Arnold are losing their posts prematurely. Successors have not yet been appointed./mis/stk