Severstal issues Q1 financial results for discontinued Lucchini operation

The Russian steel producer Severstal has announced that in Q1 2010 the loss from discontinued operations at its Italian subsidiary Lucchini amounted to $855 million.
 
Accordingly, as of March 31, 2010, Lucchini has been classified as held for sale and reported as a discontinued operation in Severstal's accounts.
 
For information purposes only, Severstal reported that in Q1 2010 Lucchini's revenue amounted to $579 million compared to $533 million in Q4 2009, while its negative EBITDA was $1 million compared to a positive $9 million in Q4 2009.
 
In the first two months of the quarter, Lucchini was affected by the time lag between increasing raw material costs and the implementation of higher revenue rates. "During March, the situation improved considerably, returning the operation to profitability for the last month of the quarter," reads the company's statement.