Kaiser Aluminum

Oakland-based Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. reported a $53.9-million net loss for 1984--including a fourth-quarter net loss of $27.8 million--despite an increase in sales.

The yearly results were an improvement over 1983, when the company’s net loss totaled $74.9 million. Sales in 1984 rose to $3.2 billion from $2.5 billion the year before.

The final quarter’s loss compared to net income of $42 million in the fourth quarter of 1983. The year-ago period included a $34.9-million gain from the sale of an Oakland office and $7.6 million in non-operating charges in the aluminum, international trading and farm chemical fields. Quarterly sales rose to $878.2 million from $720.5 million.

The company said its pretax loss on aluminum operations rose to $81.8 million in the fourth quarter from $62.4 million in the third quarter, largely because it sold its output at sharply lower prices. But the company said the sales in the latest quarter permitted it to reduce inventory and corporate debt.