Russian steelmaker Severstal has announced its financial results for the second quarter and the first half of the current year. Accordingly, in the given quarter Severstal registered a net profit of $136 million, falling by 62.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. In the first half of this year Severstal recorded a net profit of $495 million, down 43.6 percent year on year.
In the first half of the current year, Severstal's sales revenues increased by 38.1 percent year on year to $3.69 billion. During the first half of 2017 the company benefited from a favorable steel and commodities pricing environment which enabled Severstal to achieve significant revenue growth on year-on-year basis.
Severstal's EBITDA in the first six months this year increased by 51.1 percent year on year to $1.2 billion, while its EBITDA margin for the period was 32.6 percent, up from 29.8 percent recorded in the first half of 2016.
According to Severstal’s statement, as expected the first half of 2017 saw a solid recovery in domestic steel demand on the back of overall Russian GDP growth. This positive trend is likely to continue into the second half of 2017. In terms of pricing, steel imports coming from the CIS countries are putting pressure on the local market. In Severstal’s export markets, the situation remains healthy with low steel inventories in China, and with relatively high iron ore and coking prices leading a steel price recovery.