OneSteel beats profit forecasts as demand improves February 21, 2012 - 9:11AM Read later OneSteel, Australia's second-largest steelmaker, posted an underlying first-half profit ahead of forecasts boosted by its mining business, and said it expects a significant improvement in its steel business performance in the second half.
OneSteel said its underlying net profit was $78 million for the first half.
That compared with market forecasts of a profit before one-off charges of $63.5 million, according to a Reuters survey of four analysts.
Advertisement: Story continues below The forecasts are before a $130 million writedown for the LiteSteel business.
Including the writedowns, OneSteel posted a net loss of $74 million, down from a net profit of $116 million a year ago.