Posted on 15 Feb 2013
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp Japan’s biggest steelmaker said its loss widened in the first nine months of its fiscal year after writing down the value of two steel mills and investments were sold at a loss.
According to a statement today from the Tokyo based company, the net loss was JPY 151.9 billion (USD 1.62 billion) in the nine months ended December 31 compared with a loss of JPY 1.25 billion a year earlier before Nippon Steel Corp. combined with Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd.
The company said that it booked a one time loss of JPY 234 billion in the nine months from an impairment charge at Nippon Steel’s Hirohata and Sakai mills in western Japan and Sumitomo’s losses on the sale of investment securities.
The company said that its third quarter net income totaled JPY 24.7 billion without providing a comparison for the previous year before the merger in October. Four-quarter net income is forecast at JPY 10.3 billion.
The newly created company is pushing to cut costs by JPY 200 billion annually after three years of integration as it streamlines domestic facilities and reviews raw material purchasing. The merger was designed to fend off competition from steelmakers in China and South Korea.
