Corus on track to meet pounds 635m target.Byline: By Iain Laing STEELMAKER Corus has revealed how it has benefited from higher selling prices as profits continued to climb towards the end of a three-year recovery programme. The group, which is currently a takeover target Takeover target A company that is the object of a takeover attempt, friendly or hostile. takeover target See target company. for India's Tata Steel Tata Steel, formerly known as TISCO (Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited), is a steel company based in Mumbai, India. Its main plant is located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, though with its recent acquisitions, the company has become a multinational with operations in and Brazil's CSN CSN Crosby, Stills, and Nash (band) CSN Centrala studiestödsnämnden (Swedish: state education grant and loan program) CSN Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (French) , said profits from continuing operations continuing operations Parts of a business that are expected to be maintained as an ongoing segment of an overall business operation. Income and losses from continuing operations are reported separately if any segments have been discontinued during the rose to pounds 171m in the three months to September 30, compared with pounds 75m a year earlier. Strong European demand meant selling prices rose 8% and offset the impact of a 2% rise in operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales , mainly relating to raw materials. Chief executive Philippe Varin said the performance reflected better market conditions and benefits from the company's Restoring Success programme. The three-year overhaul is now drawing to a conclusion and the company, which employs 24,000 people in the UK, including 2,900 on Teesside, is on track to meet its target of earnings benefits of pounds 635m a year by the end of the year. The programme involved initiatives to make Corus more competitive, but the company admitted last month that it needed a partner to bring about further cost reductions and open up fresh opportunities in new markets. As a result it backed a pounds 4.3bn takeover by Tata, although that tie-up is now in doubt following a rival approach from CSN. Corus shareholders will vote on the Tata deal on December 20 after the UK company agreed to move the date in order to give CSN more time to come up with its own proposal. The takeover speculation and improved trading has caused Corus shares to rise from 200p in June of last year to 498p on Tuesday night. Last year Corus was the ninth largest steel maker in the world with 18.2 million tonnes of output, pre-tax profits of pounds 580m and a turnover of pounds 9.2bn. Corus, which was set up through the merger of British Steel and Dutch group Hoogovens in 1999, also has large UK sites at Scunthorpe, Rotherham and Port Talbot. Mr Varin added that the commercial environment remained stable, although profitability for the fourth quarter was likely to be affected by seasonal production shutdowns. CAPTION(S): CLIMBING PROFITS: Steelmaker Corus is on track to meet earnings target by the end of the year. |
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