Brazil steelmaker Usiminas posted a BRL 1 billion net profit in Q3, the company said, as weak iron ore prices, increased non-recurring expenses and the weakening of the BRL over the US weighed on the company’s quarterly results.
The result is 33.4 percent higher when compared to the company’s Q2 BRL 781 million loss, and about 43 times bigger than last year’s BRL 24 million net loss.
According to Usiminas, net revenues in Q3 declined 16.6 percent, year-on-year, and 9.4 percent, quarter-on-quarter, to BRL 2.4 billion, due to a decline in domestic sales, which have a higher added value when compared to export products.
Sales volumes for both steel and iron ore also declined in Q3. According to Usiminas, steel shipments in Q3 reached 1.17 million mt, 15.8 percent down, year-on-year, and 7.5 percent, quarter-on-quarter.
The company’s EBITDA in Q3 was negative in BRL 97 million, down from a negative EBTIDA of BRL 755 million in Q2. In Q3 2014, EBITDA reached BRL 344 million. EBITDA margin improved to minus 4 percent, from minus 28.2 percent in Q2, but well below the 11.8 percent positive EBITDA margin seen a year ago.
Adjusted EBITDA in Q3 was negative in BRL 65 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin reached minus 2.7 percent, from 8.5 percent in Q2 and 12.3 percent a year ago.