OREANDA-NEWS. February 15, 2008. OAO “TMK” (TMK) announces significant improvements in the financial and operating performance of its Romanian subsidiaries for the year 2007. TMK-Artrom revenues1 jumped 79% up to USD 214.3 million and EBITDA rose by 20% to reach USD 25.8 million compared to 2006 results. Revenues at TMK-Resita increased by 43% to reach USD 205.6 million and EBITDA grew to USD 21 million, a 79% jump on 2006 results.

In 2007, the TMK-Artrom pipe mill shipped 155,800 tonnes of seamless pipes to its customers, representing a 61% increase on previous year shipments. TMK’s Romanian steelmaking subsidiary, TMK-Resita, shipped 314,200 tonnes of billets to third parties, a 21% increase over FY2006.

The strong improvement in results was mostly due to ongoing technical upgrading programmes. In early 2007, a new cross piercing elongator (CPE) pipe rolling mill was commissioned at TMK-Artrom and a continuous caster was put into operation at TMK-Resita, the latter cutting down production costs and increasing production yields.

Furthermore, TMK announces the finalisation of TMK-Resita’s privatisation. The Romanian Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS) officially confirmed that TMK had met all privatisation requirements following its acquisition of the steelmaking plant. With investments totalling USD 44.7 million by late 2007, TMK had already exceeded its investment requirements for TMK-Resita, including equipment upgrading and environmental measures. As a result, the privatisation contract was finalised 2 years ahead of schedule.

The upgrading of TMK-Artrom’s annual pipe capacity to 375,000 tonnes and  of TMK-Resita’s annual billet capacity to 450,000 tonnes both fall under the scope of TMK's Strategic Investment Programme running until 2010

“The early finalisation of the TMK-Resita privatisation contract shows that the Romanian authorities see TMK as both a reliable partner and a serious investor. The impressive performance of our Romanian mills underlines the efficiency of our Strategic Investment Programme, aimed at strengthening our position in the global seamless pipe market, increasing the efficiency of production processes, and raising product quality. Our Romanian plants have achieved great results in this direction, creating a state-of-the-art vertically integrated pipe manufacturing complex within the EU, positioning itself as a reliable supplier of pipes for industrial applications, including for the mechanical engineering and automotive components industries”, said TMK’s CEO, Mr. Konstantin Semerikov.

1 All financial data is based on national accounting standards and was not audited.