THURSDAY, 12.45PM:
IRON and steel producer Iscor expects a profitable first half after posting a net attributable loss of R633-million last year.
The rise in earnings is credited to a reborn steel division, which was handicapped last year by production problems at its Vanderbijlpark plant, and by losses at the Pretoria works, the closure of which cost R1-billion last year. But with the closure behind it, and Vanderbijl’s production now stable, the only problem for the corporation now is a drop in steel prices.
Iscor Steel’s operating income has increased by 166% to R250-million, and its mining operating income by R80-million to R287-million. This was made possible by a rise in iron exports.
The Saldanha Steel project has left Iscor with a net cash outflow of R814-million and a net debt of R1,08-billion, but this has only pushed the debt-to-equity ratio to 14%.
Iscor management, meantime, says it is mere months away from concluding a R400-million investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kamato copper and cobalt project, expected to increase second-half earnings.