PAO Severstal said Oct. 18 that third-quarter net profit fell 30.8% year over year to US$297 million, or 37 cents per share, compared to US$429 million, or 53 cents apiece, a year ago.

The company recorded a US$112 million income tax expense and a US$23 million foreign exchange loss.

In the second quarter, attributable net profit dropped to US$137 million, or 15 U.S. cents per share, compared to US$609 million, or 75 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue for the quarter totaled US$1.97 billion, up from US$1.59 billion in the year-ago quarter despite growth in sales volumes being mitigated on a quarterly basis by a decline in steel and raw material average selling prices in the third quarter. Group EBITDA rose to 5.5% to US$616 million due to the increased revenues.

In the first nine months, net profit fell 39.4% to US$792 million, or 98 cents per share, from US$1.31 billion, or US$1.61 per share.

CapEx for the quarter was US$144 million, up from US$122 million in the same quarter a year ago.

In line with the results, Severstal's board recommended a dividend of 35.61 Russian rubles per share for the three months that ended Sept. 30.

The company's crude steel production in the third quarter increased 4% over the prior quarter, to 2.9 million tonnes.