Hunan Valin suffers loss in Q1 due to snowstorms

Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire Co Ltd (SZA 000932), in which Arcelor Mittal holds a 29.48 pct stake, said it booked a net loss of 263.49 mln yuan in the first quarter, against net profit of 272.76 mln yuan a year earlier, due to the impact of snowstorms in late January and early February.

In its first quarter financial report filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the steelmaker said snowstorms accounted for losses of about 900 mln yuan.

Production was fully restored in March, the company said.

The company did not provide production data for 0the first quarter, but it noted that in March it produced 900,000 tons of steel products and sold 926,000 tons, with a profit for the month of 339 mln yuan.

'Although the company tried to fully restore production in March, net profit in the first quarter still fell sharply compared to the level from a year earlier,' the company said.

In the first quarter of 2008, the company booked operating revenue of 11.2 bln yuan, up 20.93 pct year-on-year.

Losses per share were 0.096 yuan in the first three months, against earnings per share of 0.12 yuan in the same period of 2007.

The steelmaker did not make any forecast for the rest of the year. (XFN-ASIA)