Russia’s largest steelmaker Severstal saw 2012 first quarter net profit fall 7.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to $427 million to IFRS, the firm said in a statement on Thursday.
Severstal’s Q1 net profit was above a consensus forecast of analysts polled by RIA Novosti of $327 million, despite first quarter EBITDA falling 26.7 percent to $562 million and revenue slipping 1.3 percent quarter on quarter to $3.679 billion.
“The first quarter of 2012 was somewhat weaker than the previous quarter, mainly due to lower demand and domestic steel prices. Our EBITDA margin [of 15.3 percent] declined but still remained one of the highest in the steel industry due to the resilience of our business model and assets quality,” Severstal CEO Alexei Mordashov said in the statement.
Earnings per share in the first three months of this year were flat at $0.46 per share compared with October-December 2011.
“Although visibility in the global economic environment remains limited, we see slightly improved fundamentals for the global steel market in the second quarter compared to the first quarter,” Mordashov added.