CENX - Strategic Objective

Century Aluminum's strategic objective is listed as follows:

Our strategic objective is to strengthen Century's primary aluminum assets and improve our overall competitive position. We intend to acquire assets that lower operating costs and diversify our geographic presence. We are focused on safety, productivity and operational excellence.

Unregistered Sale of Securities - update

Earlier in Sept, Century Aluminum filed a form 8-k for the unregistered sale of equity securities...on Monday, September 21st another form 8-k was filed and it appears the same number of shares (1.9 million) will be issued but for approx. $22 million instead of $21 million. (Link to the filing is http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090921/cenx8-k.html)

Stock Rising

As commodity prices and futures are rising...CENX is showing strong increases in the past couple days. On Monday, Sept 14th, CENX opened at 10.23 and on yesterday closed at $11.18 (9.3% increase). Currently the stock quote for CENX is at $11.96...the company's message board on yahoo is a buzz with anticipated jumps today.

Of course competitor Alcoa (AA) is seeing a jump in stock as well, opening on Monday, the 14th at $12.63, closed on the 15th at $13.99 (up 10.77%) currently trading at $14.27.

Big upgrade for CENX

This past week, Century aluminum stock was upgraded to a 5-star level...compared to a 2-star level the prior year. Article can be found at the link below.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/09/14/a-big-upgrade-for-century-aluminum.aspx

Unregistered Sale of Securities

On Friday afternoon, CENX filed a Form 8-K for Unregistered Sale of Equity Securities (the link for the filing is http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090911/cenx8-k.html). Century has entered into agreements to exhange 1.9 million shares of common stock for approx. $21 million of its senior notes due 2024. Century has already agreed to issue 4 million shares of common stock for approx. $47 million of its notes.

Per the filing, this is one way the company is trying to combat the current state of financial and credit markets and add strenght to their financial position.

Stock Rises from last week

CENX experienced an increase of $1.20 (12.5%) in their stock price from last Friday, September 4th rising from $9.60 to $10.80 on Friday, September 11th (as reported for after hours trading).

CENX --- Approaching Greatness?

On Tuesday Sept. 8, Century Aluminum's stock was noted as approaching greatness in an article titled "5 Stocks Approaching Greatness" (link to article is: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/09/08/5-stocks-approaching-greatness.aspx)

Century's stock price, along with other aluminum manufacturers, is tied to the price of aluminum...so as aluminum gains strentgh so will CENX.

On Tuesday, CENX stock opened at $9.94 and closed at $10.03.

Divestment of Stakes in Bauxite & Alumina

On Sept 1, 2009, Century Aluminum announced the sale of their 50% joint venture of alumina (key ingredient of aluminum) & bauxite assets. A link to the news release can be found below:
http://investor.shareholder.com/cenx/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=406265

Century Aluminum said the transaction will increase the company's focus on the core aluminum smelting business and other growth projects. Shares dropped 18 cents on the morning of the announcement and were trading at $10.05.

Directors & Senior Managment

According to their website, Century Aluminum has 9 independent members on the board of directors. The Chairman of the Board is John O'Brien (who is not the company CEO). From reviewing the names, it appears out of the 9 members, 8 are male and only 1 is female. The link below provides more detail on the directors:
http://www.centuryaluminum.com/directors.html

The President & CEO of the company, Logan Kruger, also serves on the board. Logan has been with the company since 2005. His profile can be found at the link below: http://www.centuryaluminum.com/logan_w_kruger.html

Other key senior managment members are listed at the following website: http://www.centuryaluminum.com/officers.html