LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) - Steel and mining company ArcelorMittal (MT) reported that its net income for the fourth-quarter was $403 million, or $0.13 per basic share compared to net loss of $6.7 billion or $2.89 per basic share in the prior year. The prior result was impacted by exceptional charges of $4.7 billion, which included $0.9 billion with respect to Mining segment goodwill and $3.8 billion primarily related to fixed assets.
Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO, said, 'We enter 2017 with good momentum in the business and the market. Our increased confidence is reflected in the Board's decision to increase capital expenditure for 2017. The improvement in performance is, however, from a low base so we will need to continue to prioritise improved returns. Central to this will be our Action 2020 programme which will sustainably improve the underlying performance of the business. We remain fully focussed on continuing the good progress in the three areas of cost optimisation, product mix and volume growth.'
Capex spend in 2017 is expected to increase to $2.9 billion (from $2.4 billion in 2016) as theGroup seeks to capitalise on opportunities to grow value and returns. the Company expects the cash needs of the business in 2017 to increase to $5.0 billion (from $4.5 billion in 2016).
Operating income for the fourth-quarter was $0.8 billion compared to operating loss of $5.3 billion in the prior year.
Sales for the fourth-quarter rose 1% to $14.1 billion from the prior year's $14.0 billion primarily due to higher steel shipment volumes (+1.6%), higher average steel selling prices (+3.5%), and higher iron ore reference prices(+51.7%) offset in part by lower market-priced iron ore shipments (-17.5%).
Quarterly iron ore shipments of 13.5 million metric tonnes, down 13.4% from the prior year.
Steel shipments for the fourth-quarter of 20.0 million metric tonnes were 1.6% higher as compared to 19.7 million metric tonnes last year.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX