Europe's largest copper producer Aurubis AG (NDA.XE) Wednesday said earnings in the current fiscal year will be significantly above the previous year after higher copper and metals prices helped it swing to a net profit for the first nine months of the year.

The company said net profit rose to EUR151 million from a loss of EUR9 million in the nine months to end June as sales increased to about EUR7 billion from EUR4.7 billion.

Aurubis didn't provide a breakdown of third-quarter figures, but Dow Jones Newswires calculations show net profit for that period fell to EUR32 million from EUR44 million. This was still above analysts' estimates of EUR27 million, however.

Sales grew to EUR2.5 billion from EUR1.67 billion, beating analysts' estimates of EUR2.41 billion.

While positive, the results "probably won't be good enough for the market," one trader said, adding that the company didn't alter its outlook much.

Aurubis expects copper demand to remain stable or increase slowly in the mid-term. The fourth quarter is typically a weaker one and Aurubis expects slightly lower sales during the period as a result, but it said copper product sales should increase again in September.

Copper prices were volatile during the last few months, Aurubis said, fluctuating between $8,000 per ton in April and $6,500/ton in June and averaging about $7,013 per ton during the third quarter.

Aurubis said the supply of scrap and other recycling materials improved during the period and, coupled with higher refining charges, resulted in higher refining revenues for the company compared with the previous year.

Shares of Aurubis, formerly Norddeutsche Affinerie, closed Tuesday at EUR36. So far this year, the shares have gained nearly 17% of their value, outperforming the MDAX which has gained about 11%.

-By Allison Connolly, Frankfurt Bureau; +49 69 29725513, allison.connolly@dowjones.com

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