SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Usiminas expects its steel sales to slip in the second quarter from a year earlier, it said on Thursday, as it kicked off Brazil’s earnings season by beating market consensus for its first quarter net profit.
Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, as the company is formally known, said in a securities filing that steel sales are set to reach between 900,000 and 1 million tonnes in the quarter through June, down from 1.09 million in the previous year.
The Ternium-backed firm did not provide further details about the forecast, but it had previously announced it would halt its blast furnace #3 at the Ipatinga plant for renovation starting April.
The company, which is set to invest a total 2.7 billion reais ($531.98 million) in the renovation, said last year it was building inventory to prepare for the move.
Earlier on Thursday, Usiminas reported a first quarter net profit of 544 million reais, down 57% from a year ago but reversing the impairment-driven loss seen in the previous quarter.
The bottom line also beat estimates from analysts polled by Refinitiv, which stood at 336.5 million reais, even as steel sales and net revenue dropped 9% and 8% respectively from the same period a year ago.
Net revenue totaled 7.25 billion reais, Usiminas said, while analysts had forecast it to reach 7.67 billion.
($1 = 5.0754 reais)
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Alberto Alerigi Jr.; Editing by Steven Grattan)
