* Q3 EBT down 16 pct at 78 mln euros vs forecast 84.1 mln
* Sales up 8 percent at 2.97 bln euros vs f'cast 2.92 bln
* Sees growth of 5.1-15 pct in operating EBT this year
* Shares down more than 5 pct in early trade
(Recasts with earnings outlook for full year, adds shares,comment)
By Michael Hogan
HAMBURG, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Aurubis AG , Europe'sbiggest copper smelter, posted a fall in quarterly profit afterrepairs at one of its plants but gave a more optimisticindication of earnings in its full year.
Chief Executive Juergen Schachler said the group expectedgrowth in operating earnings before tax (EBT) for its currentfiscal year to be at the upper end of its forecast of between5.1 and 15 percent, seeing benefits from efficiency programmesand a positive trading environment.
Its shares fell more than 5 percent in early trade, on trackfor their biggest one-day drop in six months.
Aurubis said it expects positive conditions to continue incopper markets in coming months and anticipated strong demandfor copper products. "This will be a very good year forAurubis," a spokeswoman said.
Aurubis said its operating earnings before taxes (EBT) fell16 percent to 78 million euros ($91 million) in its fiscal thirdquarter to end-June, below a consensus for 84.1 million in aReuters poll of analysts. Quarterly sales rose 8 percent to 2.97 billion euros,compared with consensus for 2.92 billion.
Third-quarter results were hit by a "relatively small"repair shutdown which cut concentrate (ore) processing at itsmain Hamburg smelter, the spokeswoman said.
Group copper concentrate processing in the third quarterfell to 618,000 tonnes from 641,000 tonnes in the same year-agoperiod.
"Significant influencing factors for the strong operatingresult during the reporting period were the good ongoingperformance of the Hamburg and Pirdop sites, as well as positiveeffects from the efficiency improvement programme," it said.
"In the next few months, we expect good sales volumes forrod and stable demand for shapes," it said. "We expect demandfor flat rolled products to continue at a strong level,especially for higher-end products like high-performance alloysand tin-coated strip."
Through the rest of the year it expects "satisfactory"copper concentrate treatment charges (TC/RCs), paid by miners tosmelters to refine concentrate into metal and which are a keypart of the global copper industry's earnings.
"With good ongoing output levels at mines, we will continueto be able to procure a sufficient supply of copperconcentrates," it said.
It expects the volume of copper concentrates processedduring the current fiscal year to be "higher than in theprevious year", with high plant availability and highermetal output compared with the previous year.
($1 = 0.8618 euros)
Reporting by Michael HoganEditing by David Evans and Dale Hudson)
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