Italy-based steel producer AFV Beltrame Group has announced its financial results for the full year of 2015, reporting an operating profit of €12.2 million compared to an operating loss of €6.1 million in 2014. In 2015, the company’s sales revenue decreased by 2.26 percent to €1.05 billion, while its EBITDA amounted to €63.8 million, rising 108 percent, both compared to the previous year.
The company stated that in 2015 market volatility and the steep decline in selling prices weighed on sales. However, AFV Beltrame Group reacted with a strategy aiming to protect the margins resulting from the improved manufacturing and service performance. In the given year, the company’s sales volumes of merchant bars grew 3.5 percent year on year, with rising margins in the main reference markets in Europe and the Mediterranean region. In addition, the company’s profitability was up thanks to the strong performance of the manufacturing sites in Italy and the considerable profitability gains at Trith Saint Legér, in northern France.
AFV Beltrame also stated that it has planned investments to support its growth plans. Accordingly, approximately €26 million will go towards steel manufacturing plants, rolling mills and finishing lines, and the verticalization of the product line in order to expand the product range into higher-margin segments to improve product quality and optimize energy consumption.