ArcelorMittal Q1 net income falls

GLOBAL steel giant ArcelorMittal on Thursday (2) posted 10 per cent fall in net income at $900 million (£719m) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

It had posted a net income of $1 billion (£800m) for the year-ago quarter, the company said in a statement.

Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal is the world's largest integrated steel and mining company. It follows January-December fiscal year.

The company said it had a "net debt of $4.8bn (£3.8bn) at the end of the quarter compared to a net debt of $2.9bn (£2.3bn) on December 31, 2023. Over the past 12 months net debt has declined by £320m despite strategic growth capex investments of $1.6bn (£1.3bn) and returns to shareholders totalling £1.4bn"

Capex in Q1 2024 includes $400m (£320m) on strategic growth projects, which are estimated to add approximately $1.8bn (£1.4bn) to the company's EBITDA by the end of 2026.

Capex in 2024 is expected to remain within the £3.6 to 4bn range of which $1.4-1.5bn (£1.12bn-1.2bn) is expected as strategic growth capex, the statement said.

Aditya Mittal, ArcelorMittal chief cxecutive officer, said: "The improved pricing environment combined with recovering volumes resulted in sequentially stronger quarterly results. We have a pipeline of growth projects underway, including the one GW renewables project in India and Vega CMC in Brazil, both of which are expected to commence operations in the first half."

According to the company statement, its crude steel production during the March quarter fell marginally to 14.4 million tonne (MT) from 14.5 MT in the same period in 2023.

Sales in Q1 2024 were at $16.28bn (£13bn) as compared to $18.50bn (£14.8bn) in the year-ago period. Steel shipments in first quarter of 2024 were 13.5 MT, lower than 14.5 MT in Q1 2023.

In India, ArcelorMittal in joint venture with Nippon Steel of Japan owns and operates about 9 million tonne steel plant in Gujarat.

In 2019, ArcelorMittal along with Nippon Steel completed the acquisition of the Essar Steel Limited plant located at Hazira in Gujarat, and later renamed it to ArcelorMIttal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India.

AMNS India produced and shipped 2 MT steel in Q1 2024.

"EBITDA during Q1 2024 declined by 37.5 per cent to $312m (£249m) as compared to $499m (£399m) in 4Q 2023, driven by a negative price-cost effect including a lower impact from natural gas hedges, offset in part by higher shipments," the statement said.

(PTI)