The company, which accounts for over 16% of Russian steel output, and has industrial facilities in Russia, the United States, Italy, France, Britain, and Ukraine, said the slight drop in net profit was primarily due to a larger share of taxable profit at the Italian steel group Lucchini and in North America.
Revenues in the reporting period increased 16.7% to $4.3 billion, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) climbed 14.6% to $1 billion and profit from operations went up 6.7% to $765 million.
"I am pleased to announce that revenues are up 16.7% and EBITDA is up 14.6% year-on-year. With a favorable outlook for pricing and anticipated growth in sales volumes across our businesses, we continue to expect 2008 to be another year of good progress for Severstal," Severstal CEO Alexei Mordashov said.
Severstal earlier said its net consolidated profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards had increased 30.5% year-on-year in 2007 to $1.97 billion.
