Agoracom: Small Cap Investment - Noront Resources - Acerinox believes in global stainless recovery

HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"

NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)

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Acerinox believes in global stainless recovery

posted on Oct 30, 2012 11:35AM

The Spanish-headquartered Acerinox Group believes the lowest point for the stainless steel market was reached in August and that the current recovery is likely to continue into Q1 2013, according to the company’s Q3 results which showed overall losses of €31m after taxes for the group in the period.

Acerinox noted that nickel price reached its bottom in mid-August, and said the announcement made by the company this month (following a similar announcement by Aperam) to increase all its base prices by €50/tonne has been a turning point for the market.

Despite the difficulties registered in Q3 due to the global weak demand and the pressure on prices from Asian imports into Europe, overall the group has produced 12.1% y-o-y more crude stainless steel during the first nine months of this year and 14.5% more cold rolled products.

Average capacity utilisation at the group’s plants was 79% in Q3, lower than in the first two quarters of the year.

The North American unit of the group continued registering the best performance as the consumption in the region is sustained in all sectors except for the investment and capital goods.

Overall Acerinox remained profitable during the first nine months of the year (€8.6m after taxes and minorities), but decreased significantly its performance compared with the gains of €102.7m registered during Jan-Sep 2011. Accumulated net sales were also down some 2.8% y-o-y, to €3.5m.