Skip navigation
Newswire

UPDATE 1-Germany's SGL Carbon lowers FY profit guidance

* Group EBITDA in Q2 to be slightly down vs Q1

* Group EBITDA for 2013 to be 50-60 pct lower vs 2012 (Adds quotes, details)

FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Germany's SGL Carbon , a major supplier to the scrap-to-steel industry, lowered its profit guidance for the second time this year, citing increased competition from Asia as it gave up hopes for a business recovery in the second half.

The company said on Thursday it would make a decision on "appropriate countermeasures and potential restructuring projects", but gave no details.

SGL, in which carmakers BMW and Volkswagen AG each hold a stake, is the world's biggest supplier of graphite electrodes used in electric arc furnaces that convert scrap steel.

The company had revised down its profit outlook in April.

"The weak business environment, which had already negatively impacted the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, has continued in the first two months of the second quarter," SGL Carbon said.

"Additionally, in particular over the last weeks, competitive pressure from Asia has significantly increased, intensified by the devaluation of the Japanese yen," it said.

An anticipated business recovery will not occur either in the second quarter or in the second half of 2013, particularly for its graphite electrodes businesses, it added.

It now expects group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the second quarter 2013 to be slightly below the 34 million euros ($44.2 million)posted in the first quarter of 2013, it said.

Group EBITDA for 2013 will be 50 to 60 percent lower than in 2012, it said, noting it had posted 240 million euros before project write-offs last year.

The company's previous guidance was for a 20-25 percent decline in group EBITDA.

SGL Carbon said it was also taking an impairment charge of as much as an estimated 150 million euros in the second quarter for its Carbon Fibers and Composites business due to signs of a delay in earnings development.

($1 = 0.7691 euros) (Reporting by Marilyn Gerlach; editing by Jane Baird)