Wuhan Steel First-Quarter Profit Rises 43% on Output
Wuhan Iron & Steel Co., China’s third-biggest steelmaker by value, increased first-quarter profit by 43 percent on higher output of silicon steel.
Net income rose to 2.05 billion yuan ($293 million), or 0.25 yuan a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 1.43 billion yuan, or 0.18 yuan, a year earlier, the Wuhan, Hubei province-based company said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange. Sales rose 24 percent to 15.8 billion yuan.
Wuhan Steel, China’s only mill capable of making silicon steel used in transformers, boosted output of the premium product 40 percent last year, said Bank of China International Ltd. The increase helped cover the rise in material costs, which had hurt profit at rivals including Angang Steel Co.
“Wuhan recorded higher profit because of the new silicon steel production,”said Lu Yizhen, who oversees the equivalent of $1.3 billion at Citic-Prudential Fund Management Co.
Wuhan Steel has fallen 39 percent this year in Shanghai trading, matching the same decline in the benchmark CSI 300 Index.
China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, plans to invest at least 200 billion yuan annually in the next few years to expand and upgrade its power grid network, boosting demand for transformers, according to China Southern Power Grid Co.
Tags: output, steel