ArcelorMittal: 2016 was a year of progress

ArcelorMittal has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2016. Despite lower shipments of ore and steel and lower revenues for the group, profit was recorded and the company suffered losses a year ago.

Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal said 2016 was a year of progress for the company. It was characterized by improved market conditions and significant gains from activities carried out under our strategic roadmap 2020. As a result, EBITDA was higher than expected and the company was able to complete priority actions related to debt reduction.

Last year, steel shipments amounted to 83.9 million tons, down 0.8 percent from last year. The fourth quarter amounted to 20.0 million tonnes, an increase of 1.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.

Iron ore shipments in 2016 were 55.9 million tonnes (down 10.4 percent year-on-year), of which 33.6 million tonnes were shipped at market prices (-16.6 percent). Shipping in the fourth quarter amounted to 13.5 million tons (-13.4 percent), of which 8.1 million tons were sent at market prices (-17.5 percent).

Sales for the full year were $ 56.791 billion, up from $ 14.126 billion in the fourth quarter. Operating income for 2016 was $ 4.161 billion. EBITDA reached $ 6.3 billion against $ 5.2 billion in the previous year.

Fourth-quarter operating income was $ 0.8 billion, compared with a $ 5.3 billion loss recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015, EBITDA for the period was $ 1.7 billion, an increase of 51 percent.

Full-year 2016 net income was $ 1.8 billion, compared with a net loss of $ 7.9 billion in 2015. Net debt fell to $ 11.1 billion as of December 31, 2016.

Lakshmi Mittal stated that “We remain fully focused on further progress in terms of optimizing costs, expanding our product range and increasing sales. In addition, ensuring fair terms of trade remains a key challenge in the face of global overproduction in the steel market. We will continue to call for the implementation of comprehensive solutions to prevent unfair practices in this area. ”