ArcelorMittal 1Q Profit Supported by Strong Steel Prices

   By Nathan Allen 
 

ArcelorMittal (MT.AE) said Friday that first-quarter net profit increased on year, due in part to continued strength in steel prices.

The steelmaker's net profit was $1.19 billion compared with $1.00 billion a year earlier, while sales rose more than 16% to $19.19 billion.

Analysts had predicted profit of $940 million on sales of $18.69 billion, according to a consensus compiled by FactSet.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached $2.51 billion compared with a company-compiled consensus of $2.32 billion.

ArcelorMittal said it expects market conditions to remain favorable but didn't upgrade its guidance for the year.

"The outlook for 2018 has strengthened as the year has progressed, with the combination of growing demand and supply-side reform driving higher capacity utilisation rates and healthy steel spreads globally," said ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal.

The company said it expects to complete its 1.8 billion euro ($2.14 billion) takeover of struggling Italian steel mill Ilva by the end of the second quarter, having recently received conditional approval from the European Commission.

Write to Nathan Allen at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2018 01:35 ET (05:35 GMT)

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