Russia's Mechel posts US GAAP net loss of $691 mln in Q1, worse than expected
MOSCOW. July 10 (Interfax) - Russia's Mechel coal and steel group ended the first quarter of 2009 with US GAAP net losses of $690.7 million, the company said in a report.
The company had negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $474 million and sales revenue of $1.18 billion in the quarter.
The net losses and EBITDA were significantly worse than what analysts had predicted in a consensus forecast prepared by Interfax. Analysts thought Mechel would show net losses of $302 million on average and negative EBITDA of $115 million. The company's sales revenue was higher than the forecast of $975 million.
Mechel's capital expenditures on fixed assets and the acquisition of mineral licenses totaled $96.1 million in the first quarter, including $40.6 million on the company's mining segment, $42.7 million on the metals segments, $12.8 million on ferroalloys and $25,000 on energy.
The company spent $13.6 million on acquisitions in the quarter, including $4.1 million on the purchase of minority stakes in various subsidiaries.
Capex totaled $175.5 million in the first quarter of 2008 with $41.2 million going to the mining segment, $126.9 million to steel and $7.4 million to energy. Capex thus fell 44.4% in the first quarter of 2009.
Mechel also spent $0.7 million on the purchase of minority stakes in its mining subsidiaries in January-March 2008.
The group's capex program for 2009 is planned at about $723 million, or which $130 million will be supporting investment.
The company had capex of $1.2 billion in 2008, including $712 million for mining, $337 million for metals, $101 million for ferroalloys and $21 million for energy.
Mechel has consolidated controlling shares in coal and steel companies and a number of ports. It has assets in Russia, Romania and Lithuania. Igor Zyuzin, the chief executive, is the group's main beneficiary. The free float is around 25%.