MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Evraz group, one of Russia's largest steelmakers, made a first half net loss to IFRS of $270 million, down by 73 percent year-on-year, the company said on Thursday.
Revenues rose 38 percent to $6.4 billion in line with analysts' forecast.
The net loss is worse than forecast in a RIA Novosti poll of analysts.
"In the first half of 2010, we faced a gradual world economic recovery, which led to an increase in steel demand on our key markets," Chief Executive Officer Alexander Frolov said.
The company's EBITDA rose 50 percent to $1.154 billion in January-June.
"In the third quarter, we expect EBITDA at $480-550 million," Vice President Giacomo Baizini said, adding that price and demand fluctuations in May-July would have a negative impact on third quarter results.
Evraz' steel production increased 22 percent year-on-year to 8.3 million tons in the first half of 2010, while steel sales grew 13 percent to 7.7 million tons. Revenue in the steel segment increased 35 percent to $5.796 billion.
Iron ore production rose six percent to 8.7 million tons year-on-year. Production of coking coal fell 21 percent to 6.8 million tons, while steam coal production increased 21 percent to 3.1 million tons. Revenue in the ore segment increased 72 percent to $1.12 billion.
Vanadium production rose by 22 percent to 10,540 tons, while vanadium sales amounted to 10,510 tons, up 41 percent higher year-on-year.
Capital investment amounted to $397 million after $203 million last year.
Evraz Group ranks 14th among the worlds' largest steel producers. The group owns three metallurgical plants in Russia, and three metallurgical works in Italy, the U.S. and the Czech Republic.
