Metalloinvest posts 1H 2010 net profit of 15.6 billion roubles

Russian steelmaker and miner, Metalloinvest, has posted a 1H 2010 net profit of 15.6 billion roubles under IFRS.

The bottom line is up47% year on year, with EBITDA jumping 292% year on year to 36.5 billion roubles, on the back of a 43% year on year increase in consolidated revenues to 99.9 billion roubles. The company says the results reflect a 141% increase in iron ore production, with steel production largely unchanged year on year.Metalloinvest also noted that net debt had fallen 29% during 1H 2010 to 137.9 billion roubles Metalloinvest CEO Eduard Potapov was upbeat about the result noting they reflected measures taken during the economic downturn to reduce production costs.“All our divisions have demonstrated positive financial performance due to efficient and timely anti-crisis measures implemented at the end of 2008 and in 2009. These measures allowed us to significantly reduce our production costs through optimization of production processes, cost-cutting and introduction of energy saving technologies.”