German steel distributor Kloeckner swung to a net loss in the third quarter due to pressure from cheap imports and slow demand in anticipation of a further fall in prices as well as a collapse in prices for scrap.
Kloeckner, whose efforts to restructure and digitise its business have so far been outpaced by price drops due to cheap Chinese exports and weak demand, said it made a quarterly net loss of 9 million euros (6.41 million pounds) compared with a profit of 16 million a year earlier.
Kloeckner said on Tuesday it expected core earnings before restructuring charges in the single-digit millions of euros in the fourth quarter, where it forecast pressure from falling prices and slow demand to continue.
In the third quarter, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation (EBITDA) and restructuring charges of halved to 30 million euros, as the company had flagged in earlier this month.
Kloeckner said it expected full-year EBITDA before restructuring expenses of up to 85 million euros, less than half what it made last year.
It added that it expected an increase of about 1 percent in real steel demand in Europe for the whole of 2015 and a decrease of about 2 percent in the United States due to a slump in the oil and gas sector.
