MOSCOW, February 27 (RIA Novosti) – Profits at Russian steelmaker Severstal slumped nearly 90 percent to $83 million for fiscal year 2013, the company reported Thursday.
The figure was far below the $419 million predicted by a consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by the Prime business news agency.
The company blamed the performance on foreign exchange losses of $350 million and asset impairments of $356 million.
Excepting the non-cash losses, net profit in 2013 would have been $789 million, slightly above the $762 million recorded in 2012.
The company said that it had a fourth-quarter net loss of $74 million and that revenue for the year decreased 5.6 percent to $13.31 billion due to lower market prices for steel products.
Severstal said that it expects global demand for steel to continue to grow this year in response to the expected recovery in Europe and an improved economic outlook in the United States.
