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Sales of €850m (-5% on third-quarter 2019)
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Significant decline in Aubert & Duval sales: -18% from 2019, -34% over two years
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Excellent production and sales performance from mining activities, driven by the rebound in Chinese steel production in a disrupted market environment:
- Increase in Q3 20 manganese ore volumes produced (+15%) and sold (+65%)
- Increase in nickel ore volumes produced (+20%) and exported (+6%), leading to a significant improvement in SLN cash cost to $5.24/lb in the third quarter
- Swift ramp-up in nickel ferroalloys production at Weda Bay, with 13 kt Ni since its launch in May
- Increase in mineral sands production (+13%), at a pace of 730 kt per year -
Raw material sales prices sharply down overall: -26% for manganese ore and -17% for ferronickel; conversely, very strong growth in the price of nickel ore (+35%)
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2020 Outlook:
- Manganese ore production target raised to 5.8 Mt (+22% vs 2019)
- Opening of new mining plateau in Gabon in October, enabling gradual ramp-up in production towards a capacity of 7 Mt in manganese ore by 2022
- Nickel ore exports confirmed at 2.5 Mwmt (+54% vs 2019) -
Factoring in the operational improvements, in particular the increased mining production, forecast EBITDA is expected to strongly improve in the second half of 2020 compared to the first half. Nevertheless, it will be significantly lower on a full-year basis.