The Luxembourg headquarters of steel and mining company ArcelorMittal Europe this morning reported an operating profit of €352 million for its second quarter ending 30 June 2015, compared with €245 million for the same quarter of the previous year.
The company's second quarter 2015 Ebitda (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) was found to have increased by 22.7% to €617 million, as compared to €503 million in the corresponding quarter of 2014, which ArcelorMittal stated reflected improved steel shipment volumes as well as the benefits of cost optimisation efforts.
Steel shipments also increased in the second quarter in comparison to Q2 2014, rising 6.9% to 10.9 million tonnes, demonstrating that European steel demand remains a trend.
However, lower average steel selling prices of -4.1% balanced out by higher steel shipments meant that sales in the ArcelorMittal Europe segment remainded stable at €7.7 billion for this quarter as compared to its predecessor the year before.
The CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, Aditya Mittal, commented: "I am pleased to be able to report another set of strong results for ArcelorMittal Europe. Our results reflect a combination of improved market fundamentals and the benefit of our asset and cost optimisation efforts. The outlook for Europe remains positive, with the economic recovery appearing to be broadening. We continue to forecast apparent steel consumption for Europe in 2015 to grow within a range of +1.5 to +2.5 per cent."
In the last three months, the company has been involved in various projects including Polish operations in Krakow and Wislok and steel contribution to the cauldron of the Opening Ceremony of the Toronto 2015 games, as well as the more recent announcement of its prototype for a modern house forged from steel.
Graph by ArcelorMittal
