On April 29, the world's largest steelmaker Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal issued its financial results for the first quarter of 2010, stating that the economic recovery is continuing in line with the company's expectations.
According to the financial results, the net profit of the company was $679 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared with a net profit of $1.07 billion in the last quarter of 2009, decreasing 36.5 percent, and a net loss of $1.06 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
Sales revenues in the first quarter of 2010 remained almost the same with the last quarter of 2009 at $18.65 billion and $18.64 billion respectively, while they increased by 23.3 percent from $15.12 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
The EBITDA of the company was $1.89 billion in the first quarter of 2010, compared with an EBITDA of $2.13 billion in the last quarter of 2009, decreasing 11.3 percent, and $883 million in the first quarter of 2009, increasing 113 percent.
Commenting on the results, chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi N. Mittal, said, "2010 is set to be a stronger year for ArcelorMittal. The year has started with improved demand in all main markets, which will have a positive impact in the second quarter."
At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the company had achieved annualized sustainable savings of $2.9 billion as compared to $2.7 billion as of December 31, 2009, essentially meeting its 2010 full-year target to achieve management gains of $3 billion of sustainable SG&A and fixed cost reductions. The company has also achieved $5 billion of annualized temporary fixed cost savings in the first quarter of 2010 resulting from industrial optimization in response to lower demand.
Commenting on the outlook for the second quarter of 2010, the company said that EBITDA is expected to be approximately $2.8-3.2 billion. Shipments, average selling prices and operating costs are all expected to be higher as compared to the first quarter of 2010. The company also expects net debt to increase in the second quarter of 2010.