OREANDA-NEWS  On 18 September was announced, that results for the first half of the year 2008 of "Severstal-metiz" group of companies show that EBITDA reached 86 million US dollars, exceeding the first half year 2007 levels by 105%.

The revenue reached 642 million US dollars, exceeding the same period last year by 29 %. The net profit has increased more that in 3 times and reached 53.4 million US dollars.

Olga Naumova, the CEO of the group, highlighted the main factors that affected the company’s results:

Selling price increases for finished products, caused by a major increase in prices of raw materials

An increase in the share of high value added products in the product portfolio

Successes of the business cost reduction programme.

In spite of the unprecedented rise in prices for steel-based raw materials and high inflation in the first six months of the year, demand for products in our key markets was relatively stable and even increased in some sectors (particularly construction). Olga Naumova considers that the second half of the year will be less favourable for the company. We will see consumption of wire and other steel products reduce due to reductions in demand from the construction sector and lower manufacturing activity in our industrial clients.