Replies to post #601 on Mechel PAO (MTL)

[I-Man]

Yes again. More good developments... Just simply this global beast of an Industrial has not been on many peoples' radar yet I guess, but needs to be IMHO....

Mechel Completes Restructuring Syndicated Pre-Export Loan

6:59 am ET January 22, 2019 (Globe Newswire)

Mechel PAO (MOEX: MTLR; NYSE: MTL), a leading Russian mining and metals company, reports refinancing its one-billion-dollar syndicated pre-export facility with a pool of international lenders.

The restructuring became possible by a credit line in euro granted by VTB Bank with maturity in April 2022. The grace period on the body of the debt is set until April 2020.

Debt buyback from lenders yielded Mechel financial revenue totaling about 13 billion rubles.

"Refinancing the syndicated loan enabled us to reduce the share of the Group's unrestructured debt from 22% to 8%, decrease the number of foreign lenders in our overall debt portfolio, synchronize the loan's conditions and debt repayment schedule with current conditions of our loans lent by Russian banks, as well as reduce borrowing costs," Mechel PAO's Chief Financial Officer Nelli Galeyeva noted.

Mechel PAO

Ekaterina Videman

Tel: + 7 495 221 88 88

[e-mail]

[I-Man]

Now this out early a.m. today:

Mechel Launches Steel Trade Online Store
5:59 am ET January 24, 2019 (Globe Newswire)

Mechel PAO (MOEX: MTLR; NYSE: MTL), a leading Russian mining and metals company, reports launching an online store to market the company's rolls.

Mechel Service OOO's online store offers a wide range of rolls, including over 40,000 articles in 49 categories such as flat and section rolls, pipes, hot- and cold-rolled products, hardware, stainless rolls and others. The store's website is http://www.mechelservice.ru/catalog .

The website also shows updated information on all of Mechel Service sales network's subsidiaries located in 41 Russian cities and towns. Any Russian-based client can make a purchase and choose to use a delivery service, with the customer pick-up option also available. The store's structure is simple and intuitively understandable, and an interactive catalogue makes choosing and buying rolls easier.

"Developing online services is a current trend in steel trade. We have mapped out several stages as we planned our efforts on improving internet sales. In 2019 we will introduce a personal account area, where customers will be able to check a product's availability and reserve it, draw up an invoice, pay with a bank card or prepare billing documents, look up acts of acceptance and purchase history. It will be a real online assistant which will make buying steel rolls comfortable and profitable 24 hours a day and may be accessed from all kinds of electronic devices," Mechel Service OOO's Chief Executive Officer Leonid Polyansky noted.

[I-Man]

Earnings released tomorrow, March 21st... I think many will be surprised...

[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."