Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel has announced its preliminary unaudited financial results for the financial year 2015-16, ended June 30. Accordingly, BlueScope expects its preliminary unaudited underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the given year to be around $570 million, while underlying EBIT in the second half is expected to be around $340 million, above the prior guidance of around $270 million. According to BlueScope, the improved performance of the company is mainly due to higher margins across its international businesses and the turnaround in steel prices in the Asian region and their favorable impact on estimated year-end inventory net realizable value provisions in Australia.
Meanwhile, in the given year BlueScope expects its unaudited net debt to decrease to approximately $780 million, primarily driven by strong operating cash flow.