Steel manufacturing giant BlueScope has reported a $2.81 billion net profit after tax for fiscal year 2022, a 135 per cent or $1.62 billion increase from the company’s revenue in the previous year.
Mark Vasella, managing director and CEO of BlueScope, said the company’s underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were at $379 billion, a record performance in the company’s 20-year history as an ASX-listed firm.
“This was an outstanding result, with tremendous performances across our business portfolio,” Vasella said.
The company generated an underlying EBIT of $1.58 billion in the second half of FY 2022— the second-best half-year result on record, beaten only by the first half of the year with $2.20 billion.
Vasella attributed the revenue increase to the continued strong demand for the company’s steel products and solutions despite recent macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility.
“We worked hard to improve our service levels which have been impacted by supply chain and pandemic-related disruptions. It’s truly heartening to see our people continue to step up, to serve our customers, and to operate safely and with great resilience. This record result is their record result,” Vassella said.
Operating cash flow after capital expenditure including the North Star expansion was at $1.71 billion, the CEO explained in a media statement.
“From this, investments of $1 billion were made in the US acquiring the MetalX ferrous recycling business and the Coil Coatings business. These were well-considered and well-executed investments in our US growth plan.”
BlueScope’s board has approved an increase to the share buy-back program to allow up to a further $500 million to be bought over the next 12 months, as well as a final unfranked dividend of 25 cents per share.
