BlueScope shares retreat after missing FY25 estimates
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More news: BlueScope was one of the biggest losers on the ASX 200 today after the steelmaker reported a 90% drop in full-year net profit after tax.
Shares were down 4.4% to $23.18 at 2:50pm AEST, having added 24% since the turn of the year.
UBS analyst Will Wilson said second-half earnings before interest and tax were 6% behind consensus forecasts, but in-line with expectations if its New Zealand business was omitted.
First-half guidance was also 5% below consensus, Wilson noted, while the performance of the group's Australian Steel Products business was "the biggest surprise/disappointment" in the result.
BlueScope full-year profit plunges 90% after $439m write-down
The news: Australia's top steelmaker BlueScope reported a 90% decline in full-year net profit to $83.8 million, after the company flagged "cyclically soft conditions and global uncertainty" during the year, and recognised a $439 million impairment on its coated products business.
The numbers: This was down from last year's result of $805.7 million and behind consensus estimates of $471.75 million, according to Visible Alpha data.
The company declared a final dividend of 30 cents per share, level with last year's payout and analysts' average forecasts.
The context: BlueScope said that the impairment charge at its coated products business, which was acquired in 2022, was caused by a "delay in achieving our expectations" at the division.
Managing director and CEO Mark Vassella noted that the coated products business "remains core to our North American growth strategy" and BlueScope is continuing to invest its turnaround program.
The company has guided underlying earnings before interest and tax of between $550 million and $620 million in FY26, which would be down from $738.2 million achieved in FY25.
What they said: "While macroeconomic conditions remain mixed, our multi-domestic strategy of prioritising in-market production for in-market consumption sets us up strongly to manage the current environment," the company said in an ASX release.
"We are seeing signs of recovery in Australian construction and improving spreads in the US."
