ArcelorMittal disappointed with its profit in the quarter, but it expects improvement
29. 4. 2009
ArcelorMittal (AM), the biggest world steelworks, showed the profit before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) of USD 883 million (approximately CZK 18.2 billion) in Q1, which is a drop compared to the same period of the last year by approximately 82 per cent.
In February ArcelorMittal decreased prices of some products by nearly 40% due to the economic downturn in the world.
ArcelorMittal estimates the EBITDA profit could increase to approximately USD 1.2 – 1.5 billion in Q2. The company announced before that the 1st quarter will probably be the weakest one in this economic cycle.
The net loss in Q1 achieved USD 1.1 billion, but it was caused especially by extraordinary cost of USD 1.2 billion in relation to the inventory write-off. The company also sees a potential for increasing its prices in the 2nd and 3rd quarter.
The company´s debt increased to USD 26.7 billion from USD 26.5 billion, where it was at the end of the previous year. However, the company repeated that it wanted to decrease the net debt by USD 10 billion by the end of this year.
