Friday 31 May 2019 4:41 pm | Updated: Monday 17 June 2019 9:45 pm

En+ profit plunges after Trump’s US sanctions bite

Energy provider En+'s profit and revenue plunged in its first quarter this year after the imposition of US tariffs that were only recently lifted.

The aluminium and power giant saw its profit slide 38.7 per cent to $409m (£324m) in the first three months of 2019, with revenue falling 19.1 per cent to $2.8bn.

The Russian firm also blamed a drop in aluminium pricing and sales volumes.

The US imposed sanctions on En+ last year to attempt to wrest the company out of the majority control of Russian oligarch and Vladimir Putin ally, Oleg Deripaska.

Deripaska had to sign a deal that reduced his voting rights to just 35 per cent of the company shares, and in which he lost overall company control, to end the sanctions in late January.

The En+ group had already been hit by a 14 per cent slide in aluminium prices last year, and blamed the recent decline on the US sanctions and a weaker pricing.

However, the profit slide comes after earnings surged 32.7 per cent to $1.9bn last year, and, despite posting an increase in total electricity and hydropower output this year, the depreciation of the rouble against the dollar was another leading factor that took a toll on En+’s revenues.

"The group experienced considerable challenges during the reporting period,” said chief executive officer, Vladimir Kiriukhin.

"The aluminium market continues to experience pricing pressure with only modest growth in global demand expected in 2019.

"Thus, our key mid-term goal is further increasing the efficiency operational performance.”