French Vallourec reports decline in 2003 sales

French Vallourec reports decline in 2003 sales

France's Vallourec, world leader in the production of seamless steel tubes and specific tubular products for industrial applications, has announced that consolidated sales declined by 6.4% in the current year of the first five months when compared to corresponding period of 2002. According to company authorities, the decline in the sales would have been 15.5%, excluding the input of its US subsidiary V&M Star which is acquired in 2002. Furthermore, the company does not expect any significant improvement in European demand. In addition, the weakness of the Dollar in relation to Euro adversely affects the competitiveness of its businesses. Also, the costs of raw materials particularly scrap have risen considerably. The company said that, EBITDA will injure the consequences however, the EBITDA/sales ratio will remain higher than the company's expectation. The two divisions of Vallourec, V&M do Brasil and the tubes for oil drilling are achieving a high level of activity and very good results due to the confidence in Brazil economy, despite the general gloomy trend of world economy.