October 12, 2008

Hunan Valin suffers loss in Q1 due to snowstorms

It is reported that Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire Co Ltd, in which ArcelorMittal holds a 29.48%, booked a net loss of CNY 263.49 million in the first quarter as against net profit of CNY 272.76 million a year earlier due to the impact of snowstorms in late January and early February.

In its first quarter financial report filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the steelmaker said snowstorms accounted for losses of about CNY 900 million. It said production was fully restored in March. In the first quarter of 2008, the company booked operating revenue of CNY 11.2 billion up by 20.93% YoY.

The company did not provide production data for 0the first quarter, but it noted that in March it produced 900,000 tonnes of steel products and sold 926,000 tonnes with a profit for the month of CNY 339 million.

The company said “Although the company tried to fully restore production in March, net profit in the first quarter still fell sharply compared to the level from a year earlier.”