NLMK boosts steel production 9% to 11.5 mln tonnes in 2010
MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Company (NLMK) boosted steel production 9% to 11.5 million tonnes in 2010, the company said in a press release.
The company targets production in the first quarter of 2011 to remain at the level of the fourth quarter of 2010, about 3 million tonnes. NLMK expects financial performance to improve thanks to a significant recovery in demand since the beginning of the year, particularly on export markets.
NLMK forecasts that revenue in the fourth quarter will rise 4% to $2.3 billion. The EBITDA margin is expected to equal 25%.
NLMK sales volumes (mln tonnes):
| Q4 2010 | Q3 2010 | Q4 2010/Q3 2010 | Q4 2009 | Q4 2010/Q4 2009 | 2010 | 2009 | 2010 /2009 | |
| Pig iron | 0.077 | 0.173 | -55.5% | 0.233 | -67.0% | 0.582 | 0.559 | 4.1% |
| Slabs | 1.108 | 0.889 | 24.6% | 0.912 | 21.4% | 3.831 | 3.443 | 11.3% |
| Flats | 1.394 | 1.467 | -4.9% | 1.258 | 10.8% | 5.664 | 4.910 | 15.4% |
| Billets | 0.096 | 0.073 | 32.1% | 0.083 | 15.6% | 0.263 | 0.272 | -3.4% |
| Long products | 0.317 | 0.367 | -13.8% | 0.249 | 27.0% | 1.158 | 1.207 | -4.0% |
| Metalware | 0.052 | 0.062 | -16.0% | 0.044 | 19.9% | 0.219 | 0.188 | 16.6% |
| Total sales product | 3.044 | 3.031 | 0.4% | 2.779 | 9.5% | 11.716 | 10.579 | 10.8% |
"The utilization rate at the Group's steelmaking facilities was 97%, up 4 p.p. year-on-year," the press release says.
"Slab sales to Steel Invest and Finance (the NLMK and Duferco JV) amounted to 322,000 tonnes, in line with the previous quarter and our production plan," it says.
At VIZ-Stal, "[d]emand for transformer steel in the export markets stabilized, resulting in a noticeable surge in sales in 2010 compared to 2009. FY2010 sales volumes increased by 52% and totaled 153,500 tonnes."
"Total slab sales increased by 25% quarter-on-quarter driven by improved demand in key export markets. Sales of high-value added products also picked up both in Russia (+8% for galvanized steel) and in export markets (up 4% for dynamo steel and +3% for transformer steel)."
"Repair activities resulted in lower quarter-on-quarter hot-rolled steel production and sales volumes in Q4 [at NLMK Indiana in the U.S.] Slab sales increased (+61%) due to larger deliveries to Duferco Farrell (JV with Duferco). Overall conditions on the US flat steel market improved, driving prices for rolled steel up at the end of 2010. The trend persisted in the beginning of 2011," it says.
The NLMK Group includes the Russia-based Novolipetsk Steel Plant, iron ore miner Stoilensky GOK , coke producer Altai Koks, VIZ-Stal and NLMK Sort, as well as DanSteel A/S in Denmark and NLMK Indiana in the U.S. Vladimir Lisin controls 85.9% of shares via Fletcher Group Holdings. Management owns 2.8% of shares. The free float is 11.3%.
RTS$#&: NLMK. SGOK