Swedish-based iron ore producer LKAB has issued its financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2012, stating that the company's production and shipments reached record high levels in the fourth quarter, while lower iron ore prices had a negative impact on sales and earnings.
In the fourth quarter, the net profit of the company was SEK 1.37 billion ($215.8 million), down from SEK 2.44 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. Sales revenues in the given quarter decreased by 26.5 percent year on year to SEK 6.37 billion ($1 billion), while the company's operating profit amounted to SEK 863 million ($136 million), compared to an operating profit of SEK 3.14 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.
In the full year 2012, LKAB registered a net profit of SEK 8.78 billion ($1.4 billion), down 19.8 percent year on year. The company's net sales in the same period decreased by 13.3 percent to SEK 26.97 billion ($4.25 billion), while its operating profit was SEK 10.6 billion ($1.67 billion), falling 28 percent compared to the previous year.
LKAB said that in 2012 it shipped a record level of 26.3 million mt of iron ore, 300,000 mt above the previous annual record registered in 2010, including 22 million mt of pellets in 2012, beating the previous record level in 2011 by one million mt. The production of iron ore products amounted to 26.2 million mt in 2012, compared to 26.1 million mt in 2011, while the fourth quarter production was 6.7 million mt of iron ore products, slightly down from 6.8 million mt in the corresponding quarter of 2011.
According to LKAB, the market outlook for 2013 continues to be favorable for the company's products, despite considerable uncertainty, especially in the European market.