International credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings has announced that it has upgraded its long-term corporate credit rating on the Russian steelmaker NLMK Group to investment grade 'BBB-' from 'BB+'. The outlook is negative. S&P stated that the upgrade reflects its view that NLMK's industry-leading operating efficiency, low debt, and conservative financial policy should enable the company to maintain its currently robust credit metrics. According to S&P, the EU’s retroactive antidumping (AD) duty on CRC imports from Russia will have limited effect on NLMK's margins thanks to moderate sales volumes and the possible increase of capacity utilization at NLMK's production assets located in the EU.
Meanwhile, S&P has also raised Russian steelmaker Severstal’s long-term corporate credit rating to investment grade 'BBB-' from 'BB+' with a negative outlook. The upgrade reflects S&P’s expectation that Severstal's industry-leading operating efficiency, low debt, and conservative financial policy should enable the company to maintain robust credit metrics in the next two years even in the context of the industry downturn and weakening Russian steel demand as demonstrated over the last six months. According to the credit rating agency, the EU’s retroactive antidumping (AD) duty on CRC imports will also have a limited effect on Severstal's margins due to moderate sales volumes.