But net cash fell sharply from R1.1bn to R575m following the normalisation of working capital after a devastating fire temporarily shut its main Vanderbijlpark plant earlier this year. The results included a net positive affect from an insurance claim of R179m for the fire.
Earnings before interest‚ tax‚ depreciation and amortisation for the quarter were R581m - R343m more than in the same quarter last year. But this was R227m less than in the previous quarter because of higher operating costs and unfavourable regional sales.
ArcelorMittal's chief executive Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said that within the context of fairly weak domestic trading conditions‚ the group's financial performance was encouraging.
"Clearly trading conditions are not where we would like them to be. Nevertheless‚ our financial performance was reasonable‚" she said.
Steel sales rose 3% year-on-year to 1.13m tons‚ rising 9% quarter-on-quarter. Commercial coke sales were up 40% from a year ago as South Africa's ferrochrome industry resumed normal operations at the end of the electricity buy-back programme in June. Quarter-on-quarter coke sales rose 23%.
The struggling steel producer appears to be seeing some relief after years of recessionary markets. This comes in tandem with a comprehensive settlement of disputes with Kumba Iron Ore earlier this week over the long-term supply of iron ore.
Headline earnings for the quarter rose to R199m‚ a substantial improvement on the R168m headline loss reported in the same period last year‚ and 35% higher than the preceding three months.
Nyembezi-Heita said the South African unit of the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal Group had returned to stability during the quarter‚ allowing relatively high levels of capacity utilisation of more than 80% across all units.
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