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Steel giant ArcelorMittal reportedover threefold jump in net profit at USD 179 million (around Rs 1,140 crore)for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015, helped by higher steel shipments.
The firm, controlled by NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, had clocked a net profit of USD 52 million in the year-ago period, it said in a statement.
Net sales of the Luxembourg-based company, however fell 18 per cent to USD 16.9 billion in April-June quarter of 2015 against USD 20.7 billion in the same quarter of 2014. It follows January-December as its fiscal year.
ArcelorMittal kept its guidance unchanged and continues to expect "EBITDA within the range of USD 6-7 billion, capital expenditures of around USD 3 billion and net interest expense of about USD 1.4 billion in 2015."
The company's Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal said: "Despite continued pressure on both steel and iron-ore prices, we have delivered a consistent set of operating results compared with the first quarter."
Europe continues to be a bright spot, with EBITDA again improving by 10.5 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2015. Mining has also performed robustly against the backdrop of a lower iron-ore price, with ArcelorMittal Mines Canada reporting record shipment levels and improved costs, he added.
"We remain concerned by high level of imports. Whilst we are somewhat encouraged by recent actions on potential trade defence measures from both the US and Europe, we are also taking action to adapt our own business," Mittal said.
More positively, even against such a challenging backdrop, the company has delivered a small net income for the second quarter, reduced net debt year-on-year and expects cash flow to be positive for the year, he noted.
Steel shipments rose 3.4 per cent to 22.2 million tonnes (MT) in the June quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter of 2014, the firm said.
Iron ore production stood at 16.4 MT in Q2 2015 compared to 16.6 MT in Q2 2014. The company shipped and reported 10.8 MT of iron ore at market prices, an increase of 2.7 per cent compared to 10.5 MT during the same period of last year.
Crude steel production stood at 24 MT in April-June 2015 against 23.1 MT in the year-ago period.
ArcelorMittal's net debt stood at USD 16.6 billion as of June 30, 2015, stable as compared to March 31, 2015 mainly due to positive free cash flow of USD 0.5 billion offset by the negative forex (USD 0.2 billion) and dividends (USD 0.3 billion). Net debt was lower by USD 0.9 billion year-on-year.
The world's largest steel company had reported a net loss of USD 728 million for the first quarter of 2015 against a net loss of USD 205 million in Q1 2014 on account of currency headwinds as well as declining iron ore prices.
Net sales had also declined 13.5 per cent to USD 17.12 billion from USD 19.79 billion during the same period.
