With the acquisition of National Materials of Mexico (NMM) announced at the end of 2022, Klöckner & Co, through its US subsidiary Kloeckner Metals Corporation (KMC), strengthened its position in the steel and metals distribution, steel service business in North America. In this way, the company has obtained a very attractive opportunity to enter the "electric sheet" market, which has a very high growth potential for the USA. It is expected that there will be a serious increase in the number of vehicles produced in Mexico in the future, especially with the production of the main automotive groups in the world. If this happens, Klöcner & Co will further increase its profits in the coming years with its strategic investment.
In addition, Klöckner & Co has strengthened its partnership with the US steel producer Nucor. Nucor company is investing in a state-of-the-art electrical steel plant where scrap is recycled into heavy plates. It is foreseen that electrical steel, which is widely used in wind turbines and other infrastructure projects, will be heavily promoted in the region in the future under the "Inflation Reduction Act" of the USA.
Klöckner & Co had a very active year. It is reported that the company's profit, which was 629 million euros in 2021, has now fallen to 259 million euros, mainly due to the frequently fluctuating prices in the past year. The reason for this situation was a 60% decrease in demands due to the concerns that customers would not be able to procure sufficient material due to uncertain market conditions.
On the other hand, the company aims to create stronger demand dynamics in its main sales markets in Europe and the USA and hopes that the global steel market will normalize as a result. Klöckner & Co, which recovered relatively at the beginning of the year in terms of price, is expected to remain at a low level despite this. The company expects an EBITDA of 40 to 90 million euros for the first quarter.
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