By Associated Press
Berlin, Germany – Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said Thursday that its third-quarter net profit slipped 21 percent, putting the blame on higher costs for raw material, including steel, the strong euro and bigger-than-expected costs on new steel mills in the U.S. and Brazil.
The Duesseldorf-based company earned euro573 million (US$853.9 million) in the April-June period compared with euro729 million a year earlier. Sales rose 5 percent to euro14.2 billion (US$21.2 billion) compared with euro13.4 billion last year.
Looking ahead, the company said it expected its full-year pretax profit to reach about $4.8 billion, slightly better than the $4.5 billion it had originally forecast.
That helped push ThyssenKrupp shares higher by 1.2 percent to $50.91 in Frankfurt.
The German-based company is building a massive steel plant in southwest Alabama.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)