Profit warning from Angang Steel
16.04.2012/XNUMX/XNUMX Beijing - Angang Steel slipped into the red in the first quarter. After this announcement, the share posted sales.
The Chinese steel company Angang Steel expects to have generated a net loss of 1,888 billion yuan (299 million US dollars) from January to the end of March. The reason for this poor result was the significant price decline for steel products. Last year, the company still posted a net profit of 71 billion yuan over the same period.
Managing Director Chen Ming, however, assumes that the price of steel has meanwhile stabilized: Compared with December, he has already risen again by 3 percent. In April, the price could stay at the same level or increase slightly. Although the price of iron ore has already fallen by 50 US-Dollar to 140 US-Dollar, Chen claims that this high cost level is unacceptable.
Further expansion of production capacity
As early as the end of March, the company announced that capital expenditures this year are expected to be reduced by 50 percent to 3,6 billion yuan. Last year, Angang Steel's production capacity totaled 19,16 million tons of steel. This year, production capacity is to be increased by 9 percent, or 1,7 to 1,8 million tons.
At present, the price of Angang Steel Co Ltd on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is down 3,8 percent on 5,25 Hong Kong Dollars.
(Www.emfis.de)
