Arcelor Mittal Reports Q4 Loss, Looks For Strong 2011

Arcelor Mittal MT, the world's largest steelmaker, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $780 million compared with a profit of $1.1 billion in the year-earlier period. The Luxembourg-based company posted EBITDA of $1.85 billion topping the estimate of $1.68 billion of 17 analysts polled by Bloomberg. The company is forecasting first-quarter EBITDA of $2 billion to $2.5 billion and a budget for this year of $5 billion, $1.4 billion of which will be devoted to mining, the company said in a statement. Arcelor Mittal said it will boost iron ore production by 10% this year. "Although 2010 continued to be a challenging year, as anticipated we saw a slow and progressive recovery which enabled us to deliver a substantially improved performance compared with 2009. The gradual underlying demand recovery continues and we expect 2011 to be stronger than 2010," Chairman and CEO Lakshmi N. Mittal said in the statement. ArcelorMittal said operating costs would increase in the first quarter due to higher raw-material prices, while capital requirements and net debt would rise as it produces more steel, according to Bloomberg News.