Annual reporting 2008: Up to the challenge

by Hydro Aluminium AS 20 Mar 10:30

(March 20, 2009)
“Record sales and historic high prices for aluminium gave way to a free fall in demand and an aluminium price at the lowest point in decades. We experience how quickly and how deeply everything can change – and how vital it is to act upon what is happening, not what you hope will happen,” Hydro President and CEO Eivind Reiten and Executive Vice President and incoming CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg say in the company’s annual reporting, published on Hydro’s internet site www.hydro.com on Friday.
Hydro’s 2008 annual reporting contains three separate documents with different level of detail.

“We must do everything we can to accommodate ourselves to a reality that has been turned upside down – while keeping an eye on the goal of where we want to be when the crisis is past.” Reiten and Brandtzæg say in their letter to shareholders.

Hydro’s main report for 2008 is “Annual Report – 2008” and includes detailed information about Hydro’s businesses, operational performance, financial performance, viability performance, corporate governance and financial statements. The report is available in English.

In addition, two reporting documents have been prepared specifically for distribution to shareholders: “Financial Statements and Board of Directors’ Report – 2008”, and “2008 – in brief”. The first report fulfills the Norwegian statutory requirements to annual reporting, while the latter is a short summary of Hydro’s results and performance in 2008. These reports are available in both English and Norwegian.

At www.hydro.com/reporting2008 the full content of the three reports are presented together with some supplementary information. Hard copies of all reports can be ordered from this website, and all parts of the reports can be downloaded and printed in PDF-format on demand.

Hydro’s main reporting on viability performance is included in the “Annual Report – 2008”, with additional details on www.hydro.com/reporting2008.

Shareholders registered directly in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository (VPS) will automatically receive hard copies of “Financial Statements and Board of Directors’ Report – 2008” and “2008 – in brief”. Other shareholders and stakeholders may request a hard copy of any of Hydro’s 2008 reports at www.hydro.com/reporting2008 free of charge. Distribution of the hard copies will start on April 1.

Press contact
Contact Erik Brynhildsbakken
Telephone +47 22538301
Cellular +47 41751271
E-mail Erik.Brynhildsbakken@hydro.com