The Spanish stainless steel producer Acerinox, S.A. has announced that in the first half of 2010 its profit after tax amounted to €81 million, thanks to the clear improvement in the market conditions and in Acerinox Group's competitiveness and productivity especially in the second quarter of the year (profit of €71 million), compared to loss of €254.97 million in the corresponding period of 2009.
In the first half of this year, Acerinox' net sales came to €2.17 billion, increasing by 68.1 percent year on year, while its EBITDA margin stood at 10.7 percent, as compared to -21.8 percent in H1 2009.
In the given period, sales in Europe accounted for 40.5 percent of Aceriox' total sales, while 44.8 percent of total sales were made to the Americas. Acerinox supplied nine percent of its total sales to Asia, 5.2 percent to Africa and 0.5 percent to Oceania.
In the first half of 2010, melting output amounted to 1.1 million metric tons, 41 percent higher than in the first half of 2009.
Regarding the short-term outlook, Acerinox said that the price decrease of raw materials in May has led to decreases in the alloy surcharges for July and August. This fact together with the seasonal slowdown has reduced the amount of received orders and consequently production in the summer months has been adapted to this demand situation. All this will result in lower activity in the third quarter which will lead to quarterly results lower than those achieved in the second quarter, Acerinox stated. Notwithstanding, the third quarter will be the fifth consecutive quarter with profits despite the effects of the international financial crisis.