Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and steel groups, has issued its financial results for 2008.
Accordingly, in 2008 Mechel's revenues increased by 48.9 percent to $9.95 billion, its operating income went up by 82.9 percent to $2.556 billion, its net income increased by 24.9 percent to $1.1 billion, and its EBITDA went up by 23.4 percent to $2.047 billion.
"Once again we managed to achieve record figures in revenue, operating income, and net profit, which allowed us to obtain a certain degree of security before market conditions for Mechel's products changed for the worse," Mechel's CEO Igor Zyuzin commented.
Mechel's capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment and acquisition of mineral licenses for the 2008 full year amounted to $1.2 billion, of which $712 million was invested in the mining segment, $337 million in the steel segment, $101 million in the ferroalloy segment, while $21 million was invested in the power segment.
For the 2008 full year, Mechel spent $2.1 billion on acquisitions, including $198 million (excluding monetary resources acquired) on the acquisition of Ductil Steel, $439 million in advances paid for Bluestone Industries, $1.44 billion (excluding monetary resources acquired) spent on the acquisition of Oriel Resources, $15 million for HBL Holdings, as well as $51 million spent on the acquisition of minority interests in other subsidiaries.
As of December 31, 2008, Mechel's total debt stood at $5.4 billion. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to $254.8 million at the end of 2008, while net debt amounted to $5.1 billion.