OREANDA-NEWS. IMH (KOKS Group) announces that Standard & Poor's rating agency raised long-term corporate credit rating on the company to 'B' from 'B-'. The outlook is stable.

International rating agency Standard & Poor's has recently announced that it raised long-term corporate credit rating of IMH to 'B' from 'B-'. The outlook is stable. At the same time the agency raised the issue rating of the USD 350 million senior unsecured loan participation notes to 'B-' from 'CCC+'. The '5' recovery rating of these notes remained unchanged. In addition, S&P improved Koks' financial risk profile to "aggressive" from "highly leveraged" owing to its stronger credit metrics.

S&P notes that the upgrade reflects the company's improved credit metrics due to "better-than-expected operating performance". For example, in the first half of 2014, EBITDA of IMH almost doubled to compare with the same period of 2013. The company's EBITDA margin exceeding 20% in the first half of 2014 has increased significantly to compare with 13%-15% for the full 2012-2013 years. This was due to the increased spread between the price of pig iron, which the company sells, and raw materials such as iron ore and coking coal. Ongoing significant Russian rouble depreciation also benefited all Russian exporters. S&P analysts predict that this will continue in 2015.

Sergey Cherkaev, Vice-president Finance of IMH commented on the event:

"We have received positive credit ratings from all the leading international rating agencies - Standard & Poor's, Fitch and Moody's. Analysts expressed solid opinion that IMH is a strong and stable company with well-balanced financial policy and growing market potential. We exceptionally value the fact that the rating upgrade was done in spite of current macroeconomic turbulence. This reflects that our expertise and capabilities are clear for investors and analysts and appreciated by the financial market".