Ukrainian mining and steel producing group Metinvest has announced its financial results according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the first half of the current year. The company’s net profit decreased by 20 percent year on year to $72 million in the given period, mainly due to a hike in operating expenses, amid higher prices for raw materials and energy.
In the given period, Metinvest's consolidated sales revenues totaled $3.91 billion, up 36 percent year on year. The increase was primarily due to a recovery in global prices of steel, iron ore and coal products, after they had hit their lowest level of the last several years in the first quarter of 2016. In addition, stronger demand spurred higher sales of slabs and flat products, which partly compensated for lower sales of square billets and long products following the loss of control over Yenakiieve Steel since March 2017. The company's adjusted EBITDA in the first half of this year amounted to $839 million, rising by 45 percent year on year.
In the first half, Metinvest’s revenues in Ukraine amounted to $931 million, up 33 percent year on year, primarily due to higher selling prices, as well as higher sales volumes of flat products amid greater local demand as the economic upturn continued. International sales accounted for 76 percent of consolidated revenues in the same period. The share of Metinvest’s sales to Europe reached 38 percent, up two percentage points year on year, following a 42 percent growth in sales to the region amid higher sales volumes of slabs and iron ore products, as well as a rise in selling prices of all products. Meanwhile, sales to the Southeast Asia decreased by two percentage points to seven percent.