AFV Beltrame Group Spa, the Vicenza, Italy-based steel group which is the European leader in the merchant bar market, has presented its financial results for 2017, announcing consolidated revenues of €1.072 billion, up 13.7 percent compared to 2016. The company's sales volumes in 2017 fell by 1.5 percent year on year to 2.031 million mt.
AFV Beltrame Group's adjusted EBITDA rose from €86.1 million in 2016 to €94.9 million in 2017, with a positive contribution from all business lines. Its operating income came to €65.5 million, against €33.3 million in 2016. The company's net debt amounted to €126.8 million at the end of 2017, compared to €164.4 million a year earlier.
"During 2017, AFV Beltrame Group confirmed the consolidation and growth trends of its economic margins, obtaining results from the industrial plan, launched at the end of 2014 by managing director Riccardo Garré, which was focused on rationalization of costs, internal structures and commercial policies," the company said in a statement. Its merchant bar product sales volumes decreased by 1.2 percent year on year in 2017.
AFV Beltrame Group commented on the first part of 2018, which has signaled "a positive trend in steel demand amid economic growth in all regions of the world". Although the "risks deriving from commercial and geopolitical tensions" remain, the company "in the absence of particularly important crisis factors, expects solid performances and further improvements".