Vallourec (Paris: FR0000120354 - news) jumps over 10 percent after the steel-tube maker's first-quarter results beat forecasts and management confirms the group's goal of increasing sales and improving the core operating margin in 2013.
The company, which last year was forced to downgrade its forecasts twice as markets outside the oil and gas sector shrank and two new plants faced delays, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 191 million euros ($251.99 million) in the quarter from 152 million a year earlier.
"With a third consecutive beat on numbers, the confirmation of trough earnings in the first quarter, a consistent improvement in margins since the second quarter of 2012 ... Vallourec is gradually rebuilding confidence among investors," Exane analysts write in a note to clients.World Steel Tube Dispatch
Vallourec is also benefiting from less upbeat comments by competitor Tenaris as investors switch investments, says a Paris-based analyst.World Steel Tube Dispatch
At 0815 GMT Vallourec, whose shares have lost around 10 percent of their value in the last twelve months, is the best performing stock on the CAC 40 (Paris: ^FCHI - news) index, up 8.8 percent at 39.14 euros, while the index is flat.
To see a statement, please clickWorld Steel Tube Dispatch
WEST CHESTER, Ohio, April 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AK Steel (AKS) applauds the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) final ruling on efficiency standards for electrical distribution transformers. The rule was published in the Federal Register on April 18, 2013 following an extensive comment and review process. It ensures that transformers in America will remain among the most energy-efficient in the world, and that high-tech electrical steels will continue to be a competitive material in the marketplace.
"As a global leader in the production of high-efficiency electrical steel products, we are pleased with the Department of Energy's new standards," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. "The ruling is good for America, and it leaves AK Steel well-positioned to meet the needs of its electrical power distribution customers for years to come."
The DOE's new standards, which become effective in 2016, are not expected to significantly impact the overall competitiveness of the company's grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) products used in electrical distribution transformers. In fact, with respect to some types of distribution transformers, the new standards have the potential to increase the market for GOES.
AK Steel's grain-oriented electrical steels are some of the highest value-added specialty products available in the steel industry. They are iron-silicon alloys with specific magnetic properties necessary to produce highly efficient and economical electrical transformers. World Steel Tube It is reported
AK Steel
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6,100 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio. Additional information about AK Steel is available on the company's web site at .
AK Tube LLC, a wholly-ownWorld Steel Tube It is reporteded subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio and Columbus, Indiana. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets. Additional information about AK Tube LLC is available on its web site at. World Steel Tube It is reported
AK Coal Resources, Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, controls and is developing metallurgical coal reserves in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. AK Steel also owns 49.9% of Magnetation LLC, a joint venture headquartered in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, which produces iron ore concentrate from previously mined ore reserves.