Steel Mills
North Star Bluescope Steel Delivers Strong Results for FY 2015
Written by Sandy Williams
August 24, 2015
Bluescope Steel, which owns a 50 percent share of joint venture North Star Bluescope Steel, reported strong results for North Star in FY 2015.
Hot rolled product sales were AUD $762.6 million on higher volumes and favorable AUD:USD exchange rate for fiscal year 2015 (based on 50 percent share). The company kept a consistent 100 percent utilization throughout the year. Hot rolled product shipments for its share of the joint venture, totaled 508,000 tonnes in 2H 2015, compared to 501,000 tonnes in 1H, for a total of 1,009,000 tonnes for full FY 2015. Production increased 2 percent to 1,030,600 tonnes for the year. EBIT for the for the 50 percent share was AUD 107.3 million (US $77.3 million).
Extrapolating the figures times two to account for the joint venture share, North Star Bluescope total shipments are assumed to be 2.18 million tonnes (2.4 million tons) for FY 2015 and 1.16 million tonnes (1.28 million tons) for 2H 2015. EBIT would correspondingly total approximately AUD $214.6 for the entire year (US $154.7 million).
“In our North Star joint venture, we operate arguably the highest performing steel plant in the U.S.,” said BlueScope Chairman, Graham Kraehe in the earnings report.
North Star is expected to continue at its full production rate in the first half of FY 2016 with similar margin spreads to the second half of 2015.
Sandy Williams
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