“During the first quarter, we succeeded in reversing the negative earnings trend and showed a slight operating profit, SEK 26 million. The operating profit for the first quarter represents an improvement of more than SEK 300 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2013. The improvement is attributable primarily to higher prices in Americas and higher volumes in EMEA. The operating cash flow was negative during the first quarter (SEK -275 million), which is due to increased accounts receivable resulting from higher sales.             
                                             
“The beginning of 2014 was cautiously positive for the steel market in general and for SSAB as a company. Demand in North America was good and prices of standard steels increased. At the same time, we suffered from production and delivery disruptions due to extreme weather conditions in North America, which also resulted in higher costs for scrap metal, which is the primary input material for SSAB’s American operations.
 
“Demand for steel within EU28 improved somewhat during the first quarter, however with continued price pressure in the market. Following a long downward trend, demand stabilized or showed a modest upturn as regards to some of our customer segments, albeit from very low levels. The positive trend in EU28 was to some degree counterbalanced by great uncertainty and lower sales to Russia and Turkey. We expect the American market to continue to develop positively in 2014, driven primarily by good demand from energy-related customer segments and the automotive industry. Steel consumption in the European market is also expected to increase slightly during the year, driven by general macroeconomic trends. The markets in Asia remain challenging, due to excess capacity and high inventory levels. However, we see some signs of a recovery from the mining sector in China and Australia.
 
“On 22 January this year, we announced our ambition to combine with the Finnish steel group, Rautaruukki. SSAB Annual General Meeting took, on 9 April, all decisions necessary for the completion of the combination and on 14 April we launched the formal share exchange offer to Rautaruukki’s shareholders. The acceptance notification period initially runs until 12 May, but may be extended depending on the process of approvals from competition authorities. The combination is aimed at creating a flexible and cost-efficient steel company with improved competitiveness.”