AreclorMittal Q2 net income dips 10% to $1.5 bn

LUXEMBOURG: ArcelorMittal on Wednesday reported a 10 per cent dip in net income for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011, to USD 1.535 billion.

The company had reported a net income of USD 1.706 billion for the corresponding quarter last year, it said in a statement.

Total sales of the company grew to USD 25.126 billion in the reporting period from USD 20.154 billion in the April-June period last fiscal.

"As expected, the company has delivered a strong performance in the second quarter of 2011, underpinned by higher steel selling prices," ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi N Mittal said.

During the March quarter, the company had clocked a net income of USD 1.069 billion from total sales of USD 22.184 billion.

Total steel shipments for the three months ended June 30, 2011, stood at 22.2 million tonnes, compared to 22.3 million tonnes in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company has increased its 2011 capex target by 10 per cent from USD 5 billion to USD 5.5 billion "due to recently announced investments".