Severstal earned $ 2 billion by increasing steel and raw prices

The Severstal group, according to the general director and main shareholder of the company Alexei Mordashov, will continue to invest in Russian assets that show good results. "The investment program in Russian assets until 2012 should amount to $ 8 billion," Mordashov quoted "News Time" .

She also intends to seriously develop foreign assets. Recently, the company has been concentrated mainly on acquisitions of low -relieved enterprises in the United States , large of which were the American WCI Steel, SparRows Point and Esmark.

Now the company's task is the vertical integration of the North American business: the purchase of raw materials assets that will provide the North American unit of the company with the necessary resources. One of these steps was the August agreement on the purchase of a large American coal manufacturer PBS Coals Corporation, which is expected to meet the needs of American enterprises for the raw materials by about 40%.

The “Severstal” of the last of the Russian metallurgical companies reported in the first half of the year, presenting record financial indicators due to high prices for raw materials and steel. The company's net profit of the IFRS grew by 69%compared to the same period last year, to $ 1.94 billion, revenue - by 36%, up to 10.547 billion, EBITDA - by 34%, to $ 2.78 billion.

In 2008, the main strategic task was to increase the scale and expand the boundaries of the North American business of the group. The production capacities of the North American unit are 12.2 million tons of steel. In 2008, the company plans to release 9.7 million tons.

According to analysts, the growth of financial indicators of Severstal in many respects occurred due to an increase in steel prices, as well as the purchase of raw materials from its own companies.

Severstal is considering the possibility of new acquisitions in the Asian markets (India) and in Eastern Europe. The company also sees the potential in the Eastern Europe market, in particular in Ukraine. “We may make some acquisitions in Ukraine if it creates an additional cost for our shareholders,” Mordashov said.