By Christian Moess Laursen

 

ArcelorMittal booked a swing to fourth-quarter net loss due to the impact from the disposal of its Kazakh operations and a large impairment charge, but said it sees improving steel demand.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker on Thursday booked a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.97 billion, a swing from $261 million in net profit in the prior-year's same quarter, and compared with a consensus forecast of a $1.645 billion net loss.

The drop was mainly due to an impairment charge of $1.4 billion from the company's investment in Acciaierie d'Italia, as well as a $2.43 billion hit from the sale of the company's Kazakhstan operations in December.

The impairment related to Acciaierie d'Italia was flagged by the company earlier this week, when it also noted the charge wouldn't be reflected in the consensus figure for net income.

These also drove a widened operating loss of $1.98 billion, compared with an operating loss of $306 million a year prior.

Sales declined 12% in the quarter to $14.55 billion, due to lower average steel prices and shipment volumes.

The company, among the world's largest steel producers, said its quarterly steel shipments fell to 13.3 million metric tons compared with 13.7 million tons in the third quarter.

"Looking ahead, there are early signs of a more constructive industry backdrop," Chief Executive Aditya Mittal said.

In 2024, ArcelorMittal sees improving steel demand conditions as the destocking trend that impacted the preceding quarter looks to abate.

The world--excluding China--apparent steel consumption is expected to grow by 3% to 4% compared with 2023, it said.

Full-year net income fell to $919 million from $9.30 billion, while sales dropped to $68.275 billion from $79.84 billion in 2022.

ArcelorMittal proposed an increased annual dividend of $0.50, up from $0.44.

 

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-08-24 0159ET