Mechel Reports the 9M 2016 Financial Results

Consolidated revenue – 196.4 bln rubles, EBITDA^* -  41.6 bln rubles

Net profit, attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO – 5.5 bln rubles

MOSCOW, Nov. 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mechel PAO (MICEX:MTLR) (NYSE:MTL), a leading Russian mining and steel group, announces financial results for the 9M 2016.

Mechel PAO’s Chief Executive Officer Oleg Korzhov commented on the 9M 2016 results:

“This reporting period is characterized by significant volatility in prices for our key products. At the beginning of this year, prices for most of our products hit historical lows both domestically and internationally. The market situation fluctuated throughout these three quarters, but mostly market changes were favorable for Mechel, which found its reflection in our financial results. As a result of these nine months, our operating profit went up by 31% if compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 28.8 billion rubles, EBITDA went up by 16% to 41.6 billion rubles, and EBITDA margin reached 21%. The group demonstrated net profit attributable to Mechel PAO’s shareholders of 5.5 billion rubles and a stable cash flow.

“This spring’s bullish price dynamics on the global market of steel and coal products also led to a revival of the domestic market. The group remains dependent on the external market environment, but on its part did its best to utilize the favorable market situation by controlling and cutting costs and improving production and sales efficiency, as well as adapting its sales policy to growing demand and investing in projects aimed at diversifying our product range and increasing production volumes.

“In this favorable market situation, the group is already generating a cash flow sufficient for servicing its debt obligations within the framework of agreements on restructuring and restoring working capital. The effect from the price growth will be even more tangible as results from the fourth quarter come in. We will use this opportunity to the maximum to finance our operations and reach agreements on restructuring our remaining financial debt. If any free cash flow arises, it will be used to bring down our debt burden, thus helping to increase our company’s shareholder value.”

Consolidated Results For The 9M 2016

^*  EBITDA - Adjusted EBITDA. Please find the calculation of the Adjusted EBITDA and other non-IFRS measures used here and hereafter in Attachment A.

Mining Segment

Mechel Mining Management OOO’s Chief Executive Officer Pavel Shtark noted:

“In early 2016, prices on coking coal, our division’s main product, were at their longtime lows. Steam coal prices were also extremely low. Later during the first half of the year, the market situation gradually improved, as benchmark and global indexes demonstrated stable growth, with our contract prices growing accordingly. However, in the second half of this year we witnessed an unprecedented hike in prices on high-quality coking coal. If benchmark contract prices for hard coking coal supplied by Australian producers to Japan were set at 92 US dollars per tonne in the third quarter, for the fourth quarter they were set at 200 US dollars per tonne. It is impossible to give an unequivocal explanation to this price hike, but experts mostly agree that it was caused by a deficit of premium coal grades on China’s domestic market due to mining limits imposed on Chinese coal producers. Force majeure events on several Australian facilities as well as damage to the transport infrastructure in China and Australia added to this. Coal stocks in Chinese ports were at their historical lows. At the same time, spot prices on high-quality coking coal continued to grow and are currently set at their historical highs, topping 300 US dollars per tonne, at a significant difference with contract prices set for the fourth quarter. Negotiations for the first quarter 2017 basic prices will start shortly, and considering the spot market indicators, we can expect the contract price level for the first quarter to be significantly higher quarter-on-quarter.

“The rapid growth of coal prices, which began in mid-summer, didn’t have time to make a full impact on the third quarter’s financial results. We saw this hike’s reflection in our contracts only by the very end of this reporting period. Still, the division’s EBITDA has grown by 22% quarter-on-quarter, despite a small slump in revenue. The EBITDA margin reached 34% in the third quarter. The margin’s growth is largely due to a decrease in costs. The current favorable market situation will definitely be reflected in the results of the fourth quarter and future periods.”

Steel Segment

Mechel-Steel Management Company OOO’s Chief Executive Officer Andrey Ponomarev noted:

“The volume of the division’s product sales in tonnes has grown by less than 1% if compared to the same period of the previous year with the divisions revenue up by 6% and EBITDA by 8%. The stable level of prices for our steel products in the second and third quarters was a key factor in this positive dynamics. However, changes we made in the production and sales structure had a most important impact on the results’ improvement. We have significantly decreased sales of billets and wire rods while increasing sales of rails and beams. This was mostly due to increased production at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s universal rolling mill. The increase in revenue from this production segment is on the whole comparable to the overall growth in the division’s revenue. Within nine months of 2016, the universal rolling mill produced over 350,000 tonnes of products, and will reach 500,000 tonnes by the end of this year. Considering that the mill’s load is planned to grow further next year, the share of high value-added products in our sales structure will only increase.”

Power Segment        

Mechel-Energo OOO’s Chief Executive Officer Petr Pashnin noted:

“Comparatively mild weather conditions led to a decrease in electricity and heat sales to third parties and thus the division’s revenue. Additional repairs to Southern Kuzbass Power Plant’s equipment as part of the overall preparation for the upcoming fall-winter maximum load, as well as other factors, will help to improve efficiency of the division’s operations in the future periods. At the same time, the increase of electricity fees not only partly compensated the slump in revenue, but also enabled us to increase EBITDA and EBITDA margin comparing with the same period of the previous year.”

The management of Mechel will host a conference call today at 18:00 p.m. Moscow time (3:00 p.m. London time, 10 a.m. New York time) to review Mechel’s financial results and comment on current operations. The call may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.mechel.com, under the Investor Relations section.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes three segments: mining, steel and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.

Attachments to the 9M 2016 financial results Press Release

Attachment A

Non-IFRS financial measures. This press release includes financial information prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as well as other financial measures referred to as non-IFRS. The non-IFRS financial measures should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for the information prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDA) represents net profit (loss) attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO before Depreciation, depletion and amortization, Foreign exchange (gain) loss, net, Finance costs, including fines and penalties on overdue loans and borrowings and finance leases payments, Finance income, Net result on the disposal of non-current assets, Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets, Write-off of accounts receivables, Allowance for doubtful accounts,  Write-off of inventories to net realisable value, Loss (profit) after tax from discontinued operations, net, Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries, Income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests, Income tax expense (benefit), Pension service cost and actuarial loss, other expenses, Fines and penalties, Gain on write-off of accounts payable with expired legal term. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of our Revenue. Our adjusted EBITDA may not be similar to EBITDA measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement under IFRS and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our interim condensed consolidated statement of profit (loss). We believe that our adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors because it is an indicator of the strength and performance of our ongoing business operations, including our ability to fund discretionary spending such as capital expenditures, acquisitions and other investments and our ability to incur and service debt. While interest expenses, depreciation, depletion and amortization are considered operating expenses under IFRS, these expenses primarily represent the non-cash current period allocation of costs associated with non-current assets acquired or constructed in prior periods. Our adjusted EBITDA calculation is commonly used as one of the bases for investors, analysts and credit rating agencies to evaluate and compare the periodic and future operating performance and value of companies within the metals and mining industry.

Adjusted net profit (loss) represents net profit (loss) attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO before Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets, Loss (profit) after tax from discontinued operations, net, Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries, Effect on (loss) income attributable to non-controlling interests, Foreign exchange (gain) loss, net, Pension service cost and actuarial loss, other expenses, Fines and penalties, Gain on write-off of accounts payable with expired legal term. Our adjusted net profit (loss) may not be similar to adjusted net profit (loss) measures of other companies. Adjusted net profit (loss) is not a measurement under IFRS and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our interim condensed consolidated statement of profit (loss). We believe that our adjusted net profit (loss) provides useful information to investors because it is an indicator of the strength and performance of our ongoing business operations. While impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets is considered operating expenses under IFRS, these expenses represent the non-cash current period allocation of costs associated with assets acquired or constructed in prior periods. Our adjusted net profit (loss) calculation is used as one of the bases for investors, analysts and credit rating agencies to evaluate and compare the periodic and future operating performance and value of companies within the metals and mining industry.

Our calculations of Net debt, excluding fines and penalties on overdue amounts** and trade working capital are presented below:

**  Calculations of Net debt could be differ from indicators calculated in accordance with loan agreements upon dependence on definitions in such agreements.

EBITDA can be reconciled to our interim condensed consolidated statement of profit (loss) as follows:

Attachment B

****there were certain reclassifications to conform with the current period presentation