In its financial results according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the first half of the current year, Russian steelmaker NLMK Group's net profit decreased by 49.6 percent year on year to $242.9 million. The company's sales revenues amounted to $3.44 billion, down 20.8 percent year on year, due to the fall in average sales prices that was partially offset by a two percent year-on-year increase in sales.
In the first half this year, NLMK Group's EBITDA was $132 million, down four percent year on year. The increase in sales volumes coupled with control over production costs and operational efficiency gains partially offset the decrease in product prices, and accordingly the company’s EBITDA margin increased to 52 percent compared to 46 percent in the same period of 2015.
In the first six months of the current year, NLMK's sales volume increased by two percent to 8.09 million mt, compared to the same period of the previous year supported by a 10 percent year-on-year growth in flat steel sales in the Russian and international markets. The company produced 8.22 million mt of steel, up four percent, while its steelmaking capacity utilization rate increased by three percentage points to 97 percent, both year on year.