Nyzhnyodniprovsky Pipe Posts 18% Sales Increase and 76% Surge in EBITDA.

At its EGM on Friday, the company (NITR: BUY) reported 1H06 sales of $352.7m (up 17.8% yoy), EBITDA of $89.2m (up 76.3%) and net income of $60.1m (down 21.1%). NITR sold 107.4 ths mt of rail wheels in 1H06 (up 3% yoy), while wheel export amounted to 28.6 ths mt (up 76% yoy) and comprised 26.7% of total wheel sales in tonnage terms. Rail wheel sales made up 45% of NITR’s total sales. The EGM was recessed until Aug. 23, when 2005 income distribution will be on the agenda. Andriy Gostik: We believe the improvement in the company’s sales and EBITDA owes partly to favorable market conditions and partly to a reduction of transfer pricing. It is in line with our forecast of full-year sales of $735.5m (up 18.1%) and above our full-year EBITDA forecast of $144m (up 15.4%). The reduction in net income decline is attributable to volatility in non-recurring income, which in our view is not indicative of NITR’s 1H06 performance.