ArcelorMittal Posts Hefty Loss, Warns On FY16 EBITDA; Sells Gestamp JV Stake

(RTTNews) - Steel giant ArcelorMittal (MT) Friday reported that its fourth-quarter net loss attributable to equity holders of the parent was $6.69 billion, compared to last year's loss of $955 million. Basic loss per share were $3.72, wider than prior year loss of $0.53.

Sales in the quarter declined to $13.98 billion from $18.72 billion lats year.

EBITDA, a key earnings metric, fell to $1.103 billion from $1.815 billion last year.

Own iron ore production was 15.5 million tonnes, down from 16.7 million tonnes last year. Iron ore shipped at market price was flat at 9.9 million tonnes. Steel shipments declined.

Looking ahead, that company said that 2016 will be another difficult year for its industries, although it has started to see a recovery in Chinese steel spreads from 2015 lows.

Due to order book and the time lag required for lower raw material costs to positively impact cost of sales, EBITDA is expected to sequentially decline in first quarter 2016.

Based on the assumption of prevailing raw material costs and spot steel spreads, the company expects fiscal 2016 EBITDA to be in excess of $4.5 billion. This is compared to last year's EBITDA of $5.23 billion.

Separately, ArcelorMittal announced it has sold its 35% stake in Gestamp Automoción to the majority shareholder, the Riberas family, for a total cash consideration of 875 million euros.

The transaction is unconditional and payment is expected to be made to ArcelorMittal within six months. In addition to the cash consideration, ArcelorMittal will receive a payment of 10 million euros as a 2015 dividend.