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ArcelorMittal said Thursday that it swung to net loss for the third quarter of 2019 compared with a year prior, blaming difficult market conditions with low steel prices and high raw material costs.
For the three-month period ended Sept. 30, net loss at the Luxembourg-based steelmaker MT, -2.52% MT, -3.30% was $539 million, compared with a profit of $899 million a year earlier.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization–a preferred metric by the company–was $1.06 billion, compared with $2.73 billion a year earlier. Analysts had forecast an Ebitda of $930 million according to a company-compiled consensus.
Sales in the quarter were $16.63 billion, down from $18.52 billion in the third quarter of 2018.
The company said that it now expects steel shipments to be stable in 2019 compared with 2018, which it revised from a previous guidance of an increase year-on-year.
“As anticipated, we continued to face tough market conditions in the third quarter, characterized by low steel prices coupled with high raw-material costs,” Chairman and Chief Executive Lakshmi N. Mittal said.
