Aug 27 (Reuters) - Russia's Rusal Plc 0486.HK reported a 158 percent jump in second-quarter core profit on Thursday, bolstered by cost cuts and a weaker rouble, but opted not to pay a dividend due to limits imposed by its lenders.
The market had been expecting the world's top aluminium producer to pay its first dividend since listing in 2010, after it said earlier this month a dividend was under consideration.
Rusal warned that it sees aluminium prices, already down to six-year lows, remaining under pressure in the second half of this year due to a glut of exports from China.
"Looking to the future, we expect that (the) aluminium market is likely to remain challenging for the remainder of the year," Chairman Matthias Warnig said in a statement.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $568 million for the three months to June from $220 million a year earlier, compared with eight analysts' forecasts around $467 million.
Recurring net profit, which is adjusted net profit plus Rusal's share of Norilsk Nickel's GMKN.MM earnings, nearly tripled to $363 million from $129 million a year ago.
Rusal, which has its primary sharemarket listing in Hong Kong, cut net debt to $8 billion by the end of June from $8.6 billion at the end of March and said it would focus on paring debt and curbing capital spending while prices remain weak.