MT - ArcelorMittal to gradually resume Europe steel production as demand rebounds

ArcelorMittal ( NYSE: MT ) +1.7% pre-market Thursday after beating expectations for Q4 adjusted earnings and revenues , and saying it is gradually bringing idled production capacity back online in Europe amid signs that market conditions are improving .

Q4 net income plunged to $261M from $4.05B for the same period a year ago on revenues that fell 19% to $16.89B, compared to consensus estimates of $358M in net sales and $15.96B in sales, both taken from the company's website.

Q4 EBITDA fell to $1.26B from $5.05B in the year-earlier quarter but in line with estimates.

Q4 steel shipments fell 6.9% Q/Q to 12.6M metric tons on lower demand due to destocking.

ArcelorMittal ( MT ) said it expects 2023 global apparent steel consumption excluding China to rebound 2%-3% Y/Y and to increase steel shipments this year by ~5%.

"We are seeing demand recovering especially because we don't see a repeat of the very significant level of destock that we saw in Q4 which was something very significant," CFO Genuino Christino said on the company's post-earnings conference call.

Although ArcelorMittal ( MT ) is gradually resuming operations in Europe, it is not doing so at full capacity, and it has not yet resumed production at one of its idled blast furnaces in southern France, Christino said, adding that ~10% of the company's production in Europe remains offline .

The company recently resumed production at reduced capacity at one of its blast furnaces in Asturias, Spain, which was idled at the end of September.

ArcelorMittal ( MT ) shares have gained 9% so far this year but lost 13.5% during the past year .

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