Russian steelmaker Severstal has announced its financial results for the first quarter of the current year. Accordingly, in the given quarter Severstal registered a net profit of $461 million, rising by 28.4 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
In the first quarter of the current year, Severstal's sales revenues increased by 23 percent year on year to $2.17 billion, supported by the favorable steel and commodities pricing environment this year and steel sales volume growth.
Severstal's EBITDA in the first three months this year increased by 22.1 percent year on year to $706 million, while its EBITDA margin for the period was 32.5 percent, down from 32.7 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2017.
According to Severstal’s statement, in the first quarter of this year steel and raw material demand remained high and global steel prices were supported by winter restrictions in China and a seasonal increase in Chinese demand in March, which contributed to higher prices of raw materials. Russian export prices are expected to follow global trends in the second quarter. Severstal anticipates Russian steel demand will grow further, by 2.6 percent in the current year.