By Pierre Bertrand


ArcelorMittal reported a decline in earnings for the first three months of the year, but which exceeded expectations after volumes and prices improved.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker said it made $938 million in net profit for the quarter compared with $1.1 billion a year ago, on revenue that fell 12% to $16.28 billion.

Earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization came to $1.96 billion.

Analysts had expected $733 million in net profit and Ebitda of $1.81 billion, according to a company-provided consensus.

Average steel selling prices in the quarter rose 4.8% and steel shipment volumes improved by 1.4% compared with the last quarter of last year, which supported the company's earnings, it said.

ArcelorMittal, which agreed in March to become the largest shareholder in French manufacturing company Vallourec, said crude steel production remained largely flat on year at 14.4 million metric tons of crude made compared with 14.5 million tons in the first quarter of 2023.

Steel shipments, which reached 13.5 million tons in the quarter, declined slightly on year from 14.5 million tons.

ArcelorMittal said that despite the improvement in 1Q from the end of last year, economic sentiment remained subdued and that it wasn't yet seeing signs that customers were restocking on inventories.


Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-02-24 0155ET