Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu expects its third quarter results to decline by almost 10pc compared over Q2, due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and a slump in the European business cycle.
Maintenance work at the company’s Ferrochrome mill in Tornio, Finland is projected to generate losses of €15mn ($17.6mn) in the company’s Q3 results. The firm decided to not publish its quarterly EBITDA guidance due to market uncertainty amidst the pandemic.
Heikki Malinen, Outokumpu’s president and chief executive officer, stated that the company’s short-term focus will be on cash generation, cash control and securing liquidity, given the challenging times the company is facing.
Stainless steel deliveries in H1 2020 fell by 8pc to 1.1mn mt from 1.2mn mt in the first half of 2019. In the second quarter, deliveries declined by 11pc to 523,000mt from 584,000mt in the same quarter last year and down 11pc from 588,000mt in Q1 2020.
In the first half, the firm’s sales dropped to €3,035mn compared to €3,415mn in H1 2019. The second quarter also witnessed a decline in sales to €1,420mn from €1,701mn in Q2 2019 and was down from €1,615mn in the first quarter of this year.
The firm’s adjusted EBITDA in H1 rose to €151mn compared to €145mn during the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, Q2’s adjusted EBITDA fell to €45mn from €91mn in Q2 2019 and €106mn in Q1 2020.
(€1 = $1.18)