Mechel PAO (MTL)

[I-Man]

Another good earnings to report today early a.m.


"The Group finished the year 2018 with a year-on-year 5% increase in revenue and 9% increase in profit attributable to equity shareholders of Mechel PAO. EBITDA went down by 7% year-on-year.

Consolidated revenue - 312.6 bln rubles (+5% compared to FY2017)

EBITDA - 75.7 bln rubles (-7% compared to FY2017)

Profit attributable to equity shareholders of Mechel PAO - 12.6 bln rubles

"The revenue growth was due to positive price dynamics in steel and steelmaking commodity markets. EBITDA went down year-on-year because of a decline in the mining division's product sale volumes due to railcar shortages in the second half of 2018 and the corresponding shift in the division's focus to overcome the underrun of resource preparation for future mining. This decision enabled us to decrease accumulated product stocks and increase stripping works, which will have positive effect in the future. The negative impact of the decline in shipment volumes was partly made up by the favorable market situation, which enabled us to sell metallurgical coal at average prices exceeding levels of 2017.

"I would like to note another important event -- by early 2019 we successfully refinanced our one-billion-dollar syndicated loan, which yielded extra finance income to the Group. Also, in 2018 our lenders wrote off 17.5 billion rubles in fines and penalties, which reduced our debt and had a positive impact on our profit for this period, which grew year-on-year even as we take into account the major negative effect from the ruble's depreciation."