ArcelorMittal Swings to Profit, Promises Capital-Spending Increase--Update
10 Febbraio 2017 - 9:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Christopher Alessi
FRANKFURT--Steelmaker ArcelorMittal SA said Friday it swung to a
profit in the fourth quarter of 2016, while outlining an increase
in capital expenditure for the current year.
Net profit for the period ended Dec. 31 was $403 million,
compared with a loss of $6.69 billion during the same period a year
earlier. Operating income was also positive, at $800 million,
relative to an operating loss of $5.3 billion year-on-year.
The company returned to profitability mainly because of a lack
of exceptional charges stemming from a decline in international
steel prices, which caused losses in 2015.
The world's largest steel maker said it expects to increase
capital expenditure in 2017 to $2.9 billion from $2.4 billion last
year, a result of recovering steel markets. The company said it
expects global apparent steel consumption to continue to expand in
2017, growing by between 0.5% and 1.5%.
ArcelorMittal early last year was forced to tap shareholders
with a $3.1 billion rights issue to shore up its balance sheet
after the slump in steel prices in 2015. That move, along with
improved market conditions last year, helped it reduce its net debt
to $11.06 billion at the end of 2016 from $15.68 billion in
2015.
Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal on a conference call with
reporters Friday lauded the progress, but cautioned that markets
"remain volatile" largely as a result of Chinese overcapacity.
China has flooded the world market with an excess of less
expensive steel and aluminium, helping to trigger an ongoing
consolidation in the European steel industry.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said last year that it planned to
team up with Italy's privately held Marcegaglia SpA to take over
the ailing Ilva steel plant in Italy, which is Europe's largest
single steel plant and a producer of flat-steel products. The deal,
if it goes ahead, would solidify ArcelorMittal's number one
position in the European flat-steel market, ahead of Germany's
Thyssenkrupp AG.
ArcelorMittal's fourth quarter sales rose 1% to $14.1 billion,
as a result of higher steel shipment volumes, higher average steel
selling prices and higher iron-ore reference prices. But those
gains were offset by lower market-priced iron-ore shipments, the
company said.
Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 10, 2017 03:39 ET (08:39 GMT)
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