Metinvest International: a cast-iron constitution

Based in Geneva and amajor player in the international steel trade, Metinvest International (formerlyLeman Commodities) continued its strong growth in 2007: sales exceeded 4.5 billion Swiss francs.

Up 23% compared to the previous year, the proceeds of sales have however been dampened by the weakness of the dollar. Metinvest International’s sales growth is explained not only by an increase in market prices but also by a 12% increase in sales volume, particularly due to the Metinvest group’s acquisition of two new plants, one in Ukraine and one in Bulgaria.

All the group’s products contributed to the sales increase, semi-finished products – slabs and billets – still constituting Metinvest International’s principal assets.

“The success of our significant efforts to integrate various Group entities into one single and unique sales organization will enable us from now on to position ourselves in an even more effective way on our traditional markets, as well as on new emerging markets,” Andrey Parkhomchuk, CEO of Metinvest International, emphasized at the general meeting of shareholders.

In the first quarter 2008, Metinvest International maintained its impetus, with sales up by 11%. This sustained trend should be even more marked in the course of the year, the prospects appearing to be especially favourable, particularly in the fields of semi-finished products and niche markets.

Metinvest International and its Group

Employing over 200 people, including 57 (of 18 different nationalities) at its head office in Geneva and some 150 throughout its network in 14 countries, Metinvest International has been entrusted with the management of international sales for the Metinvest Group.

Based in the Ukraine, the MetinvestGroup is the 3rd largest European and 7th largest global producer of flat products, the world’s 6th largest producer of iron ore and the 18th largest steel maker. It encompasses 21 entities, including the Azovstal foundry and steel works (30,000 people), as well as mines, plants and shipping companies.

Metinvest has undertaken a strategy of rapid development and growth, with the recent acquisition of two plants in Italy, one in England, one in Bulgaria and one in the Ukraine.This desire for expansion has included the recent takeover of the port of Sebastopol, with its important harbour infrastructure on the Black Sea.

For its part, in addition to the regrouping of its activities in the field of mining and the transformation of metals within the Metinvest Group, the System Capital Management Holding is active in banking, insurance, the production and distribution of electricity, telecoms, machine tools, brewing, the hotel trade and sport (particularly the football club Shakhtar Donetsk). In total, System Capital Management employs 160,000 people.