Steel Mills

Severstal Announces $1 Billion In Dividends

Written by Sandy Williams

July 31, 2014

OAO Severstal posted a net loss of $661 million for second quarter that includes a non-cash loss estimate of $1.066 billion on the disposal of Severstal Dearborn, Severstal Columbus, and PBS Coal and a foreign exchange gain of $199 million. Excluding these items, Severstal would have posted a net profit of $206 million. Second quarter EBITDA was $606 million.

Severstal NA sales of rolled products increased 6 percent q/q to 1.25 million tonnes (1.38 million net tons) for revenue of $1,066 million in second quarter. Revenue increased by 10.6 percent for the first half. The average selling price for the quarter was $827/tonne and $831/tonne ($750/ton and $754/ton) for the first half of 2014.

Severstal’s Board of Directors announced the intention to return approximately $1 billion to shareholders via a special dividend following the closure of the sale of Severstal Columbus and Severstal Dearborn. The company also intends to increase quarterly dividend payments to not less than 50 percent of net profit from the current 25 percent rate. The higher dividend will continue as long as the net debt/12-month trailing EBITDA ratio is below 1.0 times.

Sandy Williams

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