Russian steelmaker Severstal's IFRS net profit fell 89.7 percent year-on-year in January-March 2013 to $44 million, the company said on Monday, citing weaker demand and lower realized prices as contributing factors.

That was below the consensus forecast outlined by analysts Prime news agency polled, who predicted the company’s net financial result at $79.4 million in the first quarter of 2013.

Severstal's revenue for the reporting quarter fell by 9.7 percent to $3.322 billion compared with the analysts’ forecast of $3.293 billion, while EBITDA plummeted by 24.8 percent to $425 million compared with a forecast $420 million, and the EBITDA margin was down to 12.8 percent from 15.4 percent the previous year.

The recommended dividend payment for the 3 months ended March 31, 2013 is 0.43 rubles per share (around $0.01).

Severstal posted a net loss of $150 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to a third quarter net profit of $329 million.

“In what is continuing to be a challenging period for the steel and steel-related mining industries, Severstal delivered an improved performance in Q1 2013 against the previous quarter,” Severstal CEO Alexei Mordashov said.

“We note, however, that the global economic environment remains uncertain and this impacts our markets. Overall we expect our Q2 2013 results to be broadly similar to our Q1 2013 numbers.”

Severstal is one of the world's largest steelmakers, with operations in Russia, Ukraine, the United States and Europe.