OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2009. Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), a leading Russian integrated mining and steel group, announced financial results for the first half ended June 30, 2009, reported the press-centre of Mechel.

Igor Zyuzin, Mechel’s Chief Executive Officer, commented on the first half results: “The second quarter, most difficult period of the world’s financial crisis, proved that Mechel has chosen right way to overcome the difficult situation. Though our pre-crisis priced contracts mostly expired already in the first quarter, we managed to sustain stable cash flows, restructure most of our debt portfolio with international banks syndicate, restore pre-crisis capacity utilization in steel segment, continue implementing a number of key investment projects. The vertically integrated structure of Mechel again has proved its reliability even in the times of deep markets decline, allowing us to end the quarter with positive EBITDA.”

Net revenue in the second quarter of 2009 increased by 8.6% to US1.28 billion compared to \\$1.18 billion in the first quarter of 2009, reflecting beginning of production volumes recovery. Meanwhile operating loss amounted to US54.7 million versus operating income of US 13.8 million in the first quarter of 2009.

In the second quarter of 2009, Mechel reported consolidated net income of US 219.3 million compared to consolidated net loss of US 690.7 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Consolidated EBITDA in the second quarter of 2009 amounted to US 370.0 million. Depreciation, depletion and amortization in the second quarter of 2009 were US 97.0 million, an increase of 28.7% over US 75.4 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Mining segment revenue from external customers for the second quarter of 2009 totaled US 330.6 million, or 25.8% of consolidated net revenue, a decrease of 4.0% over net segment revenue from external customers of US 344.2 million in the first quarter of 2009.

As of June 30, 2009, Mechel's acquisition of Bluestone Coal Group companies was accounted for on a tentative basis subject to the finalization of assets appraisals and consideration paid measurement. Specifically, the Group has not yet determined the appropriate values of the Preferred Shares issued, the CVR and the Drilling program related contingent payments (the components of the consideration paid); and the allocation of the purchase consideration to the assets of the BCG companies acquired and liabilities incurred has not been completed. As of the appropriate acquisition date, the estimated amounts of Bluestone Coal Group companies non-current assets were US 175,318, and total assets and liabilities amounted to US 277,800 and US 205,416, respectively. Assets and liabilities are currently accounted for based on their historic values rather than appraised amounts.

Goodwill arising on the acquisition of Bluestone Coal Group companies tentatively amounted to US 999,561. Specifically the majority of the existing goodwill is expected to be primarily allocated to mineral licenses based on the ongoing third-party valuation.

Operating income in the mining segment in the second quarter of 2009 decreased by 74.7% to US 12.6 million, or 3.3% of total segment revenue, compared to operating income of US 50.0 million in the first quarter of 2009. EBITDA in the mining segment in the second quarter of 2009 totaled US 139.5 million, an increase of 233.3% over segment EBITDA of US 41.8 million in the first quarter of 2009.

The EBITDA margin for the mining segment increased from 10.6% for the first three month of 2009 to 36.4% in the second quarter of 2009. Depreciation, depletion and amortization in mining segment amounted to US 49.1 million, an increase of 28.9% over US 38.1 million in the previous quarter.

Mechel’s Senior vice-president Vladimir Polin commented on the mining segment operating results: “The mining segment’s results in the second quarter were largely affected by significant decline of export prices, for most of the previous year’s contracts, signed at the pike of the market, already expired in the first quarter. Also after acquiring in may 2009 the Bluestone company in USA, we had to temporary shut down production there in order to reorganize its operations and sales system according to our standards and due to expiration of old contracts.

All this also resulted in the decline of the financial performance of the segment in the second quarter. At the same time in the second quarter we got new international price benchmarks for coking coal and managed to sign new long term contracts with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies. That allowed us to boost capacity utilization in coking coal concentrate later and start returning them back to the pre-crisis levels, which was demonstrated in our nine-months operational results. At Bluestone we have already surpassed the previous maximum production levels in coking coal concentrate. All this gives us reason to believe, that for our mining segment the worst part of 2009 is over and we will witness only improvement of the segment’s performance later.”

Revenue from external customers in Mechel’s steel segment increased by 17.3% in the second quarter of 2009 and amounted to US 754.7 million, or 59% of consolidated net revenue, from \\$643.2 million, or 58.9% of consolidated net revenue, in the first quarter of 2009.

In the second quarter of 2009 the steel segment operating loss was US 73.5 million, versus operating loss of US 85.2 million in the first quarter of 2009. EBITDA in the steel segment in the second quarter of 2009 amounted to US 79.5 million, compared to EBITDA of - US 260.3 million in the first quarter of 2009. The EBITDA margin of the steel segment increased to 10.0% in the second quarter of 2009 compared to -38.0% in the first quarter of 2009. Depreciation, depletion and amortization in steel segment increased by 9.1% from US 26.4 million in the first quarter of 2009 to US 28.8 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Commenting the results of the steel segment Vladimir Polin noted: “We are glad to note that Mechel’s steel segment managed to restore its pre-crisis production levels already during second quarter 2009, and in some products even slightly improved them. Also big work was conducted to further optimize the whole system of steel sales in the group. As a result, we have improved the operational income of the segment and significantly reduced accounts receivable, thus improving operational cash flows for the period. In the crisis times, demanding special focus on the production efficiency, we continue to increase the higher value-added products output, reducing volumes of semi-finished sales. We estimate, that the trader destocking is over and their inventories are at their bottom levels. For example, the rebar inventories in Russia reduced during six months by 26%, and Mechel-Service managed to reduce them by 38%. In the third quarter we witnessed growth in demand for all of our export products in Middle-East and South-East Asia. We will continue to focus tightly on our cost side of the steel business, securing its platform for further improvements in performance.”

Ferroalloy segment revenue from external customers for the second quarter of 2009 amounted to US77.1 million, or 6.0% of consolidated net revenue, an increase of 43.2% compared with segment revenue from external customers of US 53.9 million, or 5% of consolidated net revenue, in the first quarter of 2009.

Operating loss in the ferroalloy segment in the second quarter of 2009 was US 5.5 million, versus operating loss of US 24.8 million in the previous quarter. EBITDA in the ferroalloy segment for the second quarter of 2009 was US 153.2 million, compared to segment EBITDA of - US 307.2 million in the first quarter of 2009. The EBITDA margin of the ferroalloy segment increased amounted to 171.2% in the second quarter of 2009. For ferroalloy segment depreciation, depletion and amortization in the second quarter of 2009 was US 15.5 million, an increase of 142.2% over US 6.4 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Vladimir Polin noted: "In the second quarter of 2009 an environment on Mechel’s ferroalloy segment key distribution markets has improved materially. Given that we concurrently managed to significantly decrease costs and to put our ferroalloy plants to 100% capacity utilization quite promptly, the segment demonstrated an expansive growth of all financial indicators. Currently we go forward with realization of package of measures focused on Mechel's ferroalloy assets efficiency improvement. We already managed to achieve projected output rate at Tikhvin Ferroalloy Plant, that produces ferrochrome, and to significantly increase production of chromite ore concentrate at Voskhod mining and processing plant that in turn will result in further growth of segment results".

Mechel’s power segment revenue from external customers for the second quarter of 2009 decreased by 14.3% to US 118.4 million, or 9% of consolidated net revenue, compared to US 138.2 million of segment revenue from external customers, or 12% of consolidated net revenue, in the first quarter of 2009.

Operating income in the power segment in the second quarter of 2009 was US 213 thousand, a decrease of 98.2% compared to operating income of US 12.1 million in the first quarter of 2009. EBITDA in the power segment in the second quarter of 2009 decreased 63.0% totaling US 5.1 million, compared to EBITDA of US 13.9 million in the first quarter of 2009. The EBITDA margin for the power segment decreased from 6.6% to 2.7%. Depreciation, depletion and amortization in power segment in the second quarter of 2009 decreased 22.2%, compared to the first quarter of 2009, from US 4.5 million to US 3.5 million.

Vladimir Polin noted: "From the very beginning of global financial and economic crisis we witness a power consumption decline that in the second quarter was further affected by overall seasonal decrease of power and heat energy consumption and generation. We work on costs reduction, fuel factor decrease and reaching of synergy between segments. In virtue of range of measures implemented in this area we managed to keep showing results that exceed average all-Russian figures and the segment still demonstrates operating profit".

Recent Highlights
In July 2009 Mechel announced that electric furnace No. 1 at Tikhvin Ferroalloy Smelting Plant (JSC “TFZ”) has been commissioned. JSC “TFZ” is a subsidiary of Oriel Resources Ltd. (Great Britain). Electric furnace No. 1 that has been commissioned at JSC “TFZ” became the last of the four units at the plant put into continuously operating regime. Thus, Mechel increases its output of high quality ferrochrome, an alloy required to produce stainless and special steels.

In July 2009 Mechel announced successful closing of the deal for refinancing its short-term credit facilities totaling 2.6 billion US dollars raised to purchase assets in Yakutia and Oriel Resources Ltd. Mechel has become the first Russian company which managed to refinance its significant credit facilities with foreign banks by means of long-term instruments and, moreover, it was done on acceptable and favorable terms.

In July 2009 Mechel announced that it has competed placement of its non-convertible, interest bearing, certificated bearer bonds of 04 series for RUR 5.0 billion. The placement was arranged by public offering in the form of tender on the coupon rate and complied with the terms and procedure provided for in the Resolution on the securities issue and Prospectus. The total quantity of the placed securities was 5,000,000 bonds with the nominal value of RUR 1,000.00 each. The first coupon rate was established at 19% p.a.

In August 2009 Mechel announced the Memorandum of Cooperation signing with Mitsui & Co. Corporation. In this connection the parties are planning to realize cooperation in different directions, among which – marketing and sale of metal production and resources, including coal, all types of ferroalloys, pig iron, billet and other types of iron and steel products. Joint investment projects are also planned, among which organization of joint ventures in the sphere of primary goods production, production of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, sales and distribution.

In August 2009 Mechel announced establishing its official representative office in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Currently Mechel’s representative office in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) is the first Russian corporate representative office in the mining and metals industry in the country. The representative office of the company will support Mechel’s business in the Republic of Korea, interact directly with South Korean partners, promote establishing new business contacts and assist in broadening Mechel’s activities in South Korea.

In September 2009 Mechel announced commissioning of the new production line for cold-deformed reinforcement wire at its Beloretsk Metallurgical plant (BMP) subsidiary. New set of equipment from GCR company, Italy with annual capacity of 36 000 tons allows Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant to start production of a brand new class of products – reinforcing wire with 4-12mm diameter used for construction.

In October 2009 Mechel announced establishing its official representative office in Tokyo, Japan. The representative office of the company will support Mechel’s business in Japan, including conducting market researches, arranging meeting with partners and searching for new ones, advertising the Group’s products, and performing representative functions.

In October Mechel announced that it has completed placement of non-convertible interest-bearing documentary bonds of 05 series with total value of RUR 5 billion. Placement was performed by public subscription under the terms and conditions of Securities Prospectus and Decision on Securities Issuance through collection of purchasers’ applications for fixed-price purchase of bonds with coupon rate for the first coupon period. Securities offered in the amount of 5 million, nominal value of each bond being 1 000 rubles. Coupon rate for the first coupon period set at 12.5% per annum.

Igor Zyuzin concluded: "Generally the first half of 2009 was the most challenging period for Mechel during the crisis. Significant efforts were required to adopt the company to deteriorated global economy, to protect the production from shutdowns and then to restore it to pre-crisis levels as promptly as possible. Nevertheless, we succeeded not just to save our business but we also found new sources and methods of costs cutting and productivity enhancement, became more active and flexible in sales, approached new geographical markets, optimized logistics. It was illustrated by the fact that Mechel has become the first Russian industrial company which managed to refinance its debt portfolio with international banks syndicate, and thus has secured company's stability and further development capability. And that is why today the company is able to fully benefit from current economy stabilization and to increase its shareholder value".

Financial Position
Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment and acquisition of mineral licenses for the first half of 2009 amounted to US 223.2 million, of which US 86.3 million was invested in the mining segment, US 121.5 million was invested in the steel segment, US 13.1 million was invested in the ferroalloy segment and US 2.2 million was invested in the power segment.

In the first half of 2009 Mechel spent US 5.1 million on acquisitions, including US 4.1 million spent on acquisition of minority interest in other subsidiaries.

As of June 30, 2009 total debt was at US 5,919.6 million. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to US 822.4 million at the end of the first half of 2009 and net debt amounted to US 5,097.2 million (net debt is defined as total debt outstanding less cash and cash equivalents).