The world leader in the steel industry ArcelorMittal announced Thursday the appointment as CEO of Aditya Mittal, the son of the founder of the group, who was already in charge of finances and the European branch, presenting annual results improving.
Read also: Despite a difficult quarter, ArcelorMittal is staying the course
In 2020, ArcelorMittal divided its net loss by more than three from 2019, to $ 733 million, as revenue fell nearly 25% to $ 53.3 billion, as a result of the slowdown economic linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group points out that despite the 18% drop in its steel shipments and the net loss for the year of more than $ 700 million, it generated free cash flow of $ 1.5 billion.
"
Our financial performance has demonstrated the resilience (of the group) in exceptionally difficult conditions
," said the new CEO during a conference call.
Debt reduction
The group also completed its program to reduce the net debt to $ 7 billion.
In this context, he announced to resume the payment of a dividend of 0.30 euro per share, which had been postponed last year due to the crisis.
The recovery in the second half of the year, particularly in the automotive and construction sectors, drove demand and selling prices for steel.
The group believes that "
after a long period of destocking, the world steel industry is now benefiting from favorable demand, supporting improved capacity utilization
".
ArcelorMittal expects in 2021 a return to the rise in steel demand, estimated between 4.5% and 5.5%, after a decline of 1% last year.
The fourth quarter has already seen a return to the green with net income of $ 1.2 billion, down from a loss of $ 261 million in the previous quarter.
