Vale 3rd Quarter 2009 Webcast Conference Results

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 29  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vale would like to share with you the highlights of its Webcast Conference, led today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by VALE CFO Fabio Barbosa.

Main highlights of Vale's performance in 3Q09 were: (http://www.vale.com/vale_us/media/vale_usgaap_3t09i.pdf)

- Shipments of iron ore and pellets totaled 72.930 million metric tons, a 35.5% increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

- Operating revenue of US$ 6.9 billion, 35.6% more than the US$ 5.1 billion in 2Q09. Year-to-date (Ytd) revenue reached US$ 17.4 billion.

- Operational profit, as measured by adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes), of US$ 2.3 billion, 134.9% above 2Q09. Ytd adjusted EBIT was US$ 5.0 billion.

- Net earnings of US$ 1.7 billion, equal to US$ 0.31 per share on a fully diluted basis, against US$ 790 million in 2Q09. Ytd net earnings totaled US$ 3.8 billion.

-  Investment reached US$ 8.9 billion in the first nine months of 2009 (9M09). US$ 6.0 billion was spent in sustaining capital, research and development and project execution, and US$ 2.9 billion in acquisitions.

- Investment of US$ 567 million in corporate social responsibility in 9M09, of which US$ 413 million was allocated to environmental protection and conservation and US$ 154 million to social projects.

Vale's 3Q09 results

Vale S.A. (Vale) announced a strong set of operational and financial results for the third quarter of 2009 (3Q09), returning to growth after the impact of the global financial shock. The improved performance reflects the company's underlying earnings power based on its world-class assets and strategic position, its efforts to weather the global downturn and the broadening of the economic recovery.

Vale continues to pursue sustainable shareholder value creation, implementing its growth strategy with tight discipline in terms of capital allocation, in line with its long-term vision for the mining industry.

According to Vale's CFO, Fabio Barbosa, the company's performance has given it a strong position in the international market.

"We see the future as promising; we haven't changed our minds about this. We have invested more than 60 billion dollars in our company in recent years and made major acquisitions, and this is a significant expression of confidence in our future," said Barbosa.

"We have an outstanding portfolio of projects in which we are investing. We are confident and looking for long-term opportunities for investment, and we are developing an impressive project pipeline. We also have various other potential projects for investment in the future," he said.

According to Barbosa, Vale continues to pursue sustainable shareholder value creation, implementing the growth strategy with discipline in capital allocation, consistent with a long-term vision of the mining business. "The global recession is coming to an end, with recovery taking place earlier and at a stronger pace than previously expected," he said.

"We expect the demand for imported iron ore into China to remain strong due to the steel demand fundamentals and the lack of competitiveness of local iron ore production. Strong growth in Chinese iron ore imports is being supported by the substitution of high-cost local production and the increasing carbon steel output", said Barbosa.

For more information on Vale's 3Q09 Results, please access http://www.vale.com/saladeimprensa/en/releases/release.asp?id=19257

To download the presentation of Vale's 3Q09 Results, please access http://www.vale.com/saladeimprensa/en/audio_video/multimidia_apresentacoes.asp ?categoria=5&type=3 

DATASOURCE: Vale



CONTACT: Sabrina Orlov, Hill & Knowlton, +011-5511-5503-2863,

, for Vale



Web site:  http://www.vale.com/ 

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