Mittal Steel Roman (formerly Petrotub), the Romanian tube producer, last year posted a net income worth 7.81 million euros (28.3 million RON), generating a profit after three years of consecutive losses. A year ago, the company logged losses of approximately 1.1 million euros (4.48 million RON).
Over the past month, Petrotub shares have been among the most traded on RASDAQ, registering considerable advances. Since early February, Mittal Steel Roman shares have increased by 118.6%, and since the beginning of the year have added 130%. In 2005, Mittal Steel Roman saw its turnover rise by nearly 70% in euros, compared with the previous year, hitting the level of 214 million euros ($775 RON). Growth was supported by the increase in oil prices on the international market.
“In 2005, oil and gas prices rose significantly. At the same time, the construction and infrastructure industries are in full swing, with important projects worldwide. All these factors drove tube demand up,” stated the company”s representatives. The company”s total revenues last year amounted to 236 million euros, 57% higher than 2004, while total expenditures reached 228.3 million euros. The solid figures Mittal Steel Roman posted last year were also due to the investments the company carried out, mainly targeting the retooling programme. In the wake of these investments, Mittal Steel Roman was granted a quality certificate by Shell, the Anglo-Dutch giant.
“Mittal Steel Roman can now deliver steel tubes to Shell Oil Exploration. Mittal Steel Roman supplies tubes that fall into the Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) category and Shell will use them in its drilling operations,” stated the company”s representatives.
Mittal Steel, Iasi (formerly Tepro), the other tube manufacturer Mittal owns in Romania, last year received a quality certificate from American Petroleum Institute (API). For the Iasi-based complex, this certificate has paved the way toward previously inaccessible markets, including markets of the Near East, Africa and Scandinavia, beside traditional markets in the European Union.
Mittal Steel Roman manufactures steel tubes used in crude oil and natural gas extraction and shipping, as well as in civil engineering. The plant has a production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of tubes per annum and around 2,900 employees. In 2005 the company logged total debts estimated at 112 million euros (460 million RON), while its receivables amounted to approximately 30.7m euros (111.4m RON).
Petrotub is part of Mittal Steel group, the world”s biggest steel producer, owning the Galati based steel plant (the former Sidex), Tepro, the Iasi producer of welded tubes and Siderurgica Hunedoara, a producer of alloyed and unalloyed steel. Mittal Steel owns 69.77% in the company. The minority stakeholder is SIF Moldova, with a 17.41% stake.