By Jagoda Darlak and Elsa Ohlen
(Reuters) - Finnish stainless steel maker Outokumpu beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations on Thursday and said it expected the recovery in its European business to continue after a slowdown bottomed out in the third quarter.
"Recovery has not yet been strong enough to really come back to previous, more normal profit levels broadly in Europe, but we have seen some recovery," Chief Financial Officer Pia Aaltonen-Forsell told Reuters.
Weakness in European steel markets and low prices have weighed on steelmakers' profits over the past year after they hit record levels in 2021 and 2022.
But the company said it saw a slow recovery in Europe in the fourth quarter, and expected it to continue in 2024. Its shares were trading 6.5% higher at 1450 GMT.
Sluggish growth in Europe has led the Finnish group to eye investment opportunities in the U.S., where it was planning to expand production with a new hot-rolling mill before eventually prolonging a deal to procure hot-rolling services from ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel.
But Aaltonen-Forsell said the group was still short on cold rolling. "We continue the work now with exploring our options there for a possible investment into cold rolling," she said.
As Outokumpu is serving the U.S. and Mexico markets locally, it is in a "good basic situation" despite current geopolitical tensions and potential direct tariff hikes, Aaltonen-Forsell added.
She said the group's U.S. team was regularly visiting Washington and keeping an eye on potential upcoming changes.
Outokumpu's quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell less than expected to 72 million euros ($77.6 million), beating a 55.3 million euro forecast from a company-provided poll.
Its stainless steel deliveries are expected to rise 5-15% in the first quarter compared to the previous one, while adjusted EBITDA should be at a similar level.
Outokumpu proposed a base dividend of 0.26 euros per share for 2023, up from a 0.25 euro base dividend proposed last year, but down from a total of 0.35 euros per share distributed.
($1 = 0.9276 euros)