ArcelorMittal Q3 Profit Down On Weak Production, Adj. EPS Beats Market

(RTTNews) - Steel and mining major ArcelorMittal S.A. (MT) Thursday reported that its third-quarter net income attributable to equity holders of the parent dropped to $287 million from last year's $929 million.

Basic earnings per common share were $0.37, down from $1.11 a year ago.

Adjusted net income attributable to equity holders of the parent was $488 million or $0.63 per share, compared to $929 million or $1.11 per share a year ago.

Analysts on average expected the company to report earnings of $0.51 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

EBITDA also declined to $1.58 billion from prior year's $2.15 billion.

In the quarter, sales were $15.20 billion, lower than last year's $16.62 billion. The Street was looking for sales of $15.25 billion.

Crude steel production dropped to 14.8 million tonnes from 15.2 million tonnes a year earlier. Total Group iron ore production was 10.1 million tonnes, down from 10.7 million tonnes last year.

Looking ahead, Aditya Mittal, ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Officer, said, "Globally, the medium to long-term outlook for steel is positive, and we are confident that ArcelorMittal will continue to harness its unique geographic presence and strong research and development capability to meet our stakeholders needs and produce smarter steels for people and planet."

The company said it believes current market conditions are unsustainable as China's excess production relative to demand is resulting in very low domestic steel spreads and aggressive exports.

The company expects apparent demand in aggregate markets to be higher in the second half than same period last year.

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