Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel has posted a net profit of AU$136.3 million for the financial year 2014-15 ended on June 30, compared to a net loss of AU$82.4 million in the previous financial year, due to the absence of impairment charges and lower restructuring and redundancy costs.
BlueScope's sales revenues increased by seven percent year on year to AU$8.57 billion, mainly due to higher export volumes in Australia and domestic volumes in its North American construction unit and the contribution from the recently acquired Fielders, Orrcon and Pacific Steel businesses. These were partly offset by lower dispatch volumes in China and Thailand, and lower sales prices and export volumes at the New Zealand steel and iron sands operations.
According to Bluescope, the company has undertaken significant restructuring and other initiatives in recent years across all its operating segments to offset the existing economic factors. This has resulted in BlueScope returning an underlying profit in FY 2012-13, and a continued improvement in FY 2013-14 and FY 2014-15. In addition, the company expects that the underlying EBITDA of the first half of the financial year 2015-16 to be similar that recorded in the second half of the financial year 2014-15.