ArcelorMittal Loss Widens, Warns on Profit Amid Steel Glut

By Inti Landauro And Alexander MacDonald 

PARIS-- ArcelorMittal SA has warned investors that it will miss its profitability target this year after it turned in a wider-than-expected first-quarter net loss amid tumbling steel prices.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, the world's largest producer by shipments, said on Thursday that U.S. customers have run down steel inventories amid growing competition from Chinese and Russian steel exports, contributing to a world-wide steel glut.

The company, responsible for some 6% of global steel output and a major producer of iron ore, now expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization within a range of between $6 billion and $7 billion. The company previously expected Ebitda to end the year within between $6.5 billion and $7 billion. ArcelorMittal's Ebitda was $7.24 billion last year.

The steelmaker said its net loss in the three months to end March widened to $728 million from $205 million in the same quarter last year on a 13% fall in revenue to $17.12 billion. The profit figure missed analysts' expectations for a net loss of around $380 million.

"We faced a number of headwinds in the first quarter, including a declining iron-ore price, a stronger dollar and surge of imports in the U.S.," said Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal's Chairman and Chief Executive.

ArcelorMittal said its average EBITDA per metric ton of steel produced fell to $59 in the first quarter from $75 in the previous three months and $63 from the same period last year.

The company reaffirmed its expectations to lower net debt to $15 billion over the medium term after reporting net debt of $16.6 billion at March 31, down from $18.5 billion on the same day a year ago.

-Write to Inti Landauro at [e-mail]

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