Ternium posts 77% quarterly income boost as steel shipments jump

By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez

(Reuters) – Steelmaker Ternium reported on Tuesday a third-quarter adjusted net income of $271 million, up more than 77% from the $153 million net income posted during the same period last year.

In a statement, the company said steel shipments during this year’s third quarter shot up nearly 40% to total 4.1 million metric tons.

The company also disclosed a non-monetary loss of $1.1 billion from the cost of its expanded stake in Brazil’s Usiminas (OTC:), which when factored in yields a net loss of $739 million for the quarter.

Ternium’s revenue, meanwhile, rose by about a quarter to reach $5.2 billion during the July-to-September period.

The quarter’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at $698 million, up 2% from the $679 million reported in the year-ago period.

A leading regional producer of flat steel products for a range of industries, Ternium is controlled by Argentina’s Techint Group.

The company operates in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the United States and Central America.

Ternium added that it anticipates steel revenue per metric ton to decrease in the fourth quarter, which it said reflects lower prices in Mexico and Brazil.

Mexico’s steel prices are expected to drop on delayed impact of lower contract prices, while prices for local finished products of the key industrial metal are expected to fall in Brazil.

Shipments to Argentina are also seen falling in the fourth quarter, due to expected seasonal factors but also to government-imposed restrictions on imports.

Uncertainty in Argentina ahead of next month’s decisive run-off presidential election makes the market hard to predict given questions over how the country’s next government will approach macroeconomic policies, the company added.

Ternium reported a breakthrough at the start of the third quarter in July when it restarted operations at an iron ore mine in western Mexico following a more than five-month hiatus sparked by the disappearance of two environmental activists.