Business
Third Quarter 2017 Trading Update
Third Quarter 2017 Trading Update.
About this update from Vesuvius Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 3782W Vesuvius plc 14 November 2017 \n\n \n \n14 November 2017\nVesuvius plc \nThird Quarter 2017 Trading Update\n \nVesuvius plc, a global leader in molten metal flow engineering, releases the following Trading Update covering trading in the period from 1 July to 30 September 2017.\n \nSUMMARY & OUTLOOK\nSince the announcement of our 2017 Half Year results in July, global steel production growth has exceeded our expectations and overall our sales growth has continued to outperform the global steel market. At the same time, we continue to experience headwinds related to rising raw material prices and inter-company imports required by Flow Control in Europe. As a result, our Trading Profit expectation for full year 2017 remains unchanged. \n \nLooking ahead, the growth in steel volumes implies positive prospects for Trading Profit growth during 2018, when we expect the headwinds of increased raw material cost and European Flow Control supply to have been substantially mitigated.\n \nBOARD & SENIOR MANAGEMENT\nAs previously announced, Patrick André was appointed Chief Executive and Executive Director of Vesuvius plc with effect from 1 September 2017. Patrick replaced François Wanecq, who retired from the Board of Directors on 31 August 2017 but will remain with the Group until 31 December 2017 to assist with the transition of responsibilities.\n \nOn 1 October 2017, Roel van der Sluis, previously President, Vesuvius North Asia, assumed the position of President, Steel Flow Control for the Group, succeeding Patrick André. Roel continues to serve on the Group Executive Committee in his new role.\n \nTRADING\nIn Q3 2017, we have benefitted from 6.7% year-on-year growth in global steel production, as reported by the World Steel Association. In the year-to-date, steel volume growth of 5.6% has exceeded market expectations, resulting in the World Steel Association's recent upward revision of their demand growth forecasts for full-year 2017, from 1.3% to 2.8%. In Foundry, the market environment remains broadly positive across the majority of our end markets and the expected seasonality in sales in the second half has been confirmed.\nRAW MATERIALS\nAs noted in our 2017 Half Year results, we started to experience significant price increases...