Turkey's largest steelmaking group Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari TAS (Erdemir) has announced its financial results for the second quarter and the first half of 2013.
In the second quarter, the net profit of the company amounted to TRY 316 million ($162.3 million), increasing from TRY 95.22 million in the second quarter of the previous year. The company's sales revenues in the given quarter amounted to TRY 2.61 billion ($1.34 billion), up 11.4 percent, while its operating income was TRY 500.2 million ($256.9 million), up almost 2.5 times, both year on year .
During the first six months of the current year, Erdemir registered a net profit of TRY 544.3 million ($279.6 million), increasing almost 2.5 times compared to the same period of 2012. The company's sales revenues increased by 5.55 percent year on year to TRY 5.05 billion ($2.6 billion). In the first half, Erdemir's operating profit was TRY 838.5 million ($430.78 million), compared to an operating profit of TRY 292.77 million in the first half of the previous year.
Regarding the operational results, during the first six months crude steel production at Erdemir's Eregli works increased by 31.2 percent year on year to 1.9 million mt, while crude steel output at the producer's Iskenderun works increased by 11.1 percent year on year to 2.5 million mt.
In the given period, the flat steel output of Erdemir increased by 13.4 percent to 3.25 million mt, while the company's long steel output amounted to 861,000 mt, up 42.5 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2012. Additionally, the flat and long steel sales volumes of Erdemir increased in the given period, standing at 3.25 million mt and 876,000 mt, respectively.
According to Erdemir's statement, the modernization of the coke battery No. 4 at Iskenderun works is still continuing. As of June 30, 2013, the total investment expenditures of Erdemir amounted to $92 million.
Erdemir pointed out that, despite the contraction in European economies and lower growth rates around the world, overall indicators show partial improvements. According to Erdemir, subsidies to support economic recovery have gained importance particularly in the euro zone economies and austerity measures being implemented in Europe for a while are being replaced by economic subsidies.