Century Aluminum Company (CENX)

Liquidity ratios

	Dec 31, 2024	Jun 30, 2024	Mar 31, 2024	Dec 31, 2023	Sep 30, 2023	Jun 30, 2023	Mar 31, 2023	Dec 31, 2022	Sep 30, 2022	Jun 30, 2022	Mar 31, 2022	Dec 31, 2021	Sep 30, 2021	Jun 30, 2021	Mar 31, 2021	Dec 31, 2020	Sep 30, 2020	Jun 30, 2020	Mar 31, 2020	Dec 31, 2019
Current ratio	1.73	1.72	1.67	1.01	1.08	1.22	1.64	1.65	1.87	1.70	1.27	1.13	1.08	1.21	1.21	1.90	2.20	2.13	2.05	2.09
Quick ratio	0.26	0.42	0.38	0.23	0.21	0.17	0.26	0.31	0.37	0.38	0.30	0.22	0.28	0.26	0.29	0.59	0.73	0.88	0.77	0.60
Cash ratio	0.07	0.10	0.20	0.12	0.11	0.09	0.08	0.13	0.16	0.07	0.05	0.05	0.11	0.02	0.07	0.34	0.40	0.70	0.52	0.17

Century Aluminum Company's liquidity ratios show fluctuations over the reported period. The current ratio, which measures the company's ability to cover its short-term liabilities with its current assets, started relatively strong at around 2 in 2019 and 2020 but experienced a decline thereafter. By the end of 2024, the current ratio stood at 1.73, indicating a decrease in the company's liquidity position.

The quick ratio, a more stringent measure of liquidity that excludes inventory from current assets, also demonstrated a downward trend. It was below 1 for most of the reported period, with a noticeable decrease from 0.59 at the end of 2020 to 0.26 at the end of June 2023, before slightly recovering to 0.42 at the end of June 2024.

The cash ratio, which assesses the company's ability to cover its current liabilities with only its cash and cash equivalents, was relatively low throughout the period, peaking at 0.7 in June 2020 but generally hovering around 0.1 in recent quarters.

Overall, Century Aluminum Company's liquidity ratios show a concerning trend of decreasing liquidity over the years, which may indicate potential challenges in meeting short-term obligations if the trend continues.

Additional liquidity measure

		Dec 31, 2024	Jun 30, 2024	Mar 31, 2024	Dec 31, 2023	Sep 30, 2023	Jun 30, 2023	Mar 31, 2023	Dec 31, 2022	Sep 30, 2022	Jun 30, 2022	Mar 31, 2022	Dec 31, 2021	Sep 30, 2021	Jun 30, 2021	Mar 31, 2021	Dec 31, 2020	Sep 30, 2020	Jun 30, 2020	Mar 31, 2020	Dec 31, 2019
Cash conversion cycle	days	75.92	70.33	67.31	51.07	47.94	54.34	41.98	33.42	31.22	32.81	45.98	48.43	43.86	53.39	54.59	55.07	54.02	49.77	62.02	63.76

The cash conversion cycle of Century Aluminum Company has shown fluctuations over the period under review. The cycle measures the time it takes for the company to convert its investments in inventory and other resources into cash flows from sales.

From December 2019 to June 2021, the company managed to reduce its cash conversion cycle steadily, indicating improvements in managing its working capital and liquidity. This reduction from around 63 days to 53 days suggests that the company was able to generate cash more efficiently from its operations during this period.

However, from September 2021 to June 2024, the cash conversion cycle started to increase again, reaching its peak at 75.92 days by the end of December 2024. This increase could indicate potential challenges in managing working capital effectively or delays in converting inventory and accounts receivable into cash.

Overall, Century Aluminum Company should focus on maintaining a streamlined cash conversion cycle to ensure optimal utilization of resources and improve its overall liquidity position. Identifying and addressing inefficiencies in working capital management can help the company enhance its cash flow generation and strengthen its financial performance in the long run.