ArcelorMittal, the largest steel maker of the world, today reported USD 780 million net loss in the last quarter of 2010 against USD 1,109 million net profit in the year—ago period.
Net sales, however, rose to USD 20,699 million vis—a—vis USD 17,434 million in the October—December quarter of the last year, ArcelorMittal said in a statement here.
The net profit of the company for the whole year, 2010, rose to USD 2,196 million compared to USD 157 million in 2009.
Net sales during the period went up to USD 78,025 million from USD 61,021 million a year ago.
Commenting on the results, ArcelorMittal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi N Mittal said, ”Although 2010 continued to be a challenging year, as anticipated, we saw a slow and progressive recovery which enabled us to deliver a substantially improved performance compared with 2009“.
“The gradual underlying demand recovery continues and we expect 2011 to be stronger than 2010,” he added.