Shares of Aperam, the steel company, experienced a decline on Monday due to disrupted shipments and higher-than-expected inventory valuation losses. The shares were trading 3.1% lower at EUR26.26 as of 1052 GMT, with a previous drop of as much as 12% earlier in the session.
Aperam announced on Friday that it anticipates adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to be around 15 million euros to 20 million euros ($16 million-$21.3 million) in the third quarter. Additionally, the company highlighted that inventory valuation losses have reached a triple-digit million level.
The initial expectation from Aperam was for third-quarter adjusted EBITDA to be lower than the EUR103 million achieved in the second quarter. They also anticipated a high double-digit million inventory valuation loss, assuming raw-material prices remained unchanged.
Furthermore, Aperam now predicts that third-quarter volumes will remain at a similar level compared to the second quarter, despite the previous guidance suggesting slightly higher sequential volumes.
The company attributed the decline in shipments during the quarter to two unforeseen events. These events included a longer-than-expected standstill of the Genk upstream to accommodate the construction of the new “argon oxygen decarburization project,” as well as operational issues at the melt shop in Chatelet.