Metinvest EBITDA drops 14% m/m in February

February EBITDA at Ukraine’s largest steelmaker
Metinvest (METINV) dropped 14.0% m/m to USD 196 mln, according to its monthly results
published on Apr. 26. The holding’s revenue contracted 9.4% m/m to USD 914 mln.
Metinvest’s operating cash flow before working capital changes decreased 11.9%
m/m to USD 177 mln, whereas cash flow from operations (before profit tax and
interest) jumped 64.1% m/m to USD 151 mln in February. The holding’s CapEx fell
14.5% m/m to USD 53 mln and its end-of-month cash balance improved 3% m/m to
USD 282 mln.

Dmytro Khoroshun: Yet another
strong month for Metinvest regarding EBITDA. However, despite the m/m increase
in steel prices for most of Metinvest’s products (pig iron by 3%, slabs by 4%,
billets by 5%, finished products by 3%), the EBITDA margin of the holding’s
metallurgical segment decreased further from 16% in January to 15% in February.
The EBITDA margin of Metinvest’s mining segment also dropped m/m to 35% from
43% in January.

We continue to expect Metinvest’s monthly EBITDA to be
close to, or exceed, the USD 200 mln level well into 2018 due to strong iron
ore and steel prices.