OREANDA-NEWS.  NLMK: Q1 2015 financial results under US GAAP.

Highlights

• Group’s steelmaking capacities were running at 96%
• Sales increased by 3% qoq to 4 million tonnes due to growth in export shipments
• Revenue was \$2,216 million (-5% qoq; -16% yoy)
• EBITDA increased to \$638 million (+2% qoq, +36% yoy)
• EBITDA margin expanded to 29% (+2 p.p. qoq, +11 p.p. yoy)
• Capex declined by 5% qoq to \$116 million
• Free cash flow amounted to \$319 million (-16% qoq; +18% yoy)
• Net debt dropped to \$1,247 million (-22% qoq, -46% yoy)
• Net debt/EBITDA was 0,49х (0,67х at the end of 2014)
• Net income increased to \$321 million (+39% qoq, +85% yoy).

Outlook

Q2 2015 sales are expected to increase driven, among other factors, by the seasonal uptick in the Russian market. At the same time, further contraction of spreads between steel product and raw material prices will put pressure on financials.