This follows the approval by the Cabinet for VALCO and the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) – the entity holding VALCO’s shares on behalf of the Government of Ghana - to go to market to identify and engage a Strategic Partner towards the retrofit (modernisation) of the smelter to bring to it to world-class standard in terms of technology, operating efficiencies and costs, profitability, among other benefits.

The Board Chairman of VALCO, Dr Henry Benyah, announced this at the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Accra on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.

While presenting VALCO’s performance for the year 2022, Dr Benyah noted that transaction advisors have been engaged “to manage the process of the search and selection of a strategic partner with the requisite technical capacity to deploy the most competitive smelter technology, backed by the needed investments and strategic global linkages in consideration for an agreed equity stake in a restructured VALCO”.

He said the company had experienced relatively stable operations for the past two years as observed in its 2021 and 2022 performance results. 

Comparing the performance of the company in the last decade, the Board Chair said the company recorded its best-ever performance in 2022, second only to the results of 2021, posting an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization (EBITDA) positive return of USD5.39 million.

New initiatives 

In the coming year, Dr. Benyah noted, VALCO would position itself firmly in the aluminium downstream segment of the aluminium value chain, adding that the company hoped to achieve that by way of entering into joint ventures (some of which are currently in the developmental stages) or direct participation in the high-end value-addition downstream segment of the aluminium value chain. 

He said the company was hopeful that incorporating downstream activities into its operations like all globally competitive smelters had done, would make its operations more viable.

He added that as an environmentally responsible company, VALCO believed that the future of aluminium “is green”, hence positioning itself through various environmentally-friendly initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint in order to take its pride of place as a net carbon emitter and a “Green Aluminium” smelter.

Prospects of VALCO

Reporting on the operational performance of the company, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Dan Acheampong expressed the hope that the company was gradually moving from an era where its very existence was threatened to productive business with positive future prospects.

He said notwithstanding the company’s improvements in performance in the last three years, the company was not out of the woods yet, but was on cause of sourcing a strategic investor to boost its operations. 

He said management and staff of the company were committed to working in line with the principle of “continuous improvement,” to further improve the performance and outlook of the company.

For Mr Acheampong, the company would not relent on its efforts to become a world class smelter, hence encouraging all stakeholders to put their hands on deck to turn the fortunes of the company around.

“The company hopes to leverage its successes in the last three years regarding operational stability to lay a firm foundation for 2023 and beyond. This is in line with the objectives outlined in its five year Strategic/Recovery Plan (2020-2024) which places emphasis on maintaining operational stability as it transitions to the “Retrofitted VALCO” to assure a sustainable turnaround,” he noted.

He said the company had identified some product-value maximisation and a host of cost reduction initiatives to make the operation sustainable in the short-term while working to implement the final phase of the recovery plan.

This, Mr. Acheampong explained, was in line with the VALCO’s Modernisation Project dubbed Project 4 under GIADEC’s Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI) Project Masterplan currently under execution.

Appreciation 

He expressed his gratitude and that of the company to the government and its stakeholders for not losing trust in the company, saying “VALCO is grateful to the Government, the Board, Management and Staff, Volta River Authority, GRIDCo and indeed, all Ghanaians for helping to keep it alive to this point of take- off.”

He further encouraged all stakeholders to continue to support the company in its operations as it continues to re-position its activities to become a major player in the industrialisation agenda of the country.