By Robert-Jan Bartunek
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal
The firm, which makes around 6-7 percent of the world's steel, said it now expected steel consumption in the United States to remain flat or rise by 1 percent at most in 2013 while the European market would shrink by between 1.5 and 2.5 percent.
Previously, it had seen U.S. growth between 2 and 3 percent and European consumption falling between 0.5 and 1.5 percent.
It said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2013 would be more than $6.5 billion, versus a previous forecast to beat the $7.1 billion reported in 2012.
Overall, the group sees steel shipments rising between 1 and 2 percent in 2013, driven by a 3 percent rise of global steel consumption. The company believes Europe will be the only region where demand will fall.
The $500-billion-a-year steel industry, a gauge of the global economy, has suffered from a drop in demand from austerity-hit Europe and worries about the prospects of Chinese economic growth.
Shares of ArcelorMittal traded little changed on Thursday morning, having fallen by about a quarter since the start of 2013.
"The market consensus was already at $6.6 billion so their guidance was brought down to where the street already is," a London-based analyst said.
Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal told a conference call that, in the first half, U.S. steel consumption was down 5.6 percent from the same period last year, with the EU down 5.7 percent and Brazil only growing by 0.3 percent.
"These are key markets for ArcelorMittal. China, which is a market where we do not have a large production presence, is up 8.5 percent," he said.
ArcelorMittal, which sold around 45 percent of its steel in Europe last year, said second-quarter EBITDA, or core profit, fell 33.5 percent year-on-year to $1.70 billion, below the analysts' average forecast of $1.75 billion in a Reuters poll.
The group also said capital expenditures would increase to$3.7 billion from $3.5 expected previously because of additional investments in Brazil.
The company, which lost its investment grade credit rating last year, said that its net debt fell to $16.2 billion at the end of the second quarter but that this figure would rise to about $17 billion in the second half of 2013 because of investment in working capital and the payment of the annual dividend.
ArcelorMittal kept its medium-term net debt target of $15 billion but said it did not expect its investment grade rating to return soon.
"I believe there has to be a stronger macroeconomic picture for the global steel industry for us to achieve that," Aditya Mittal said.
(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, editing by Ben Deighton and David Cowell)
