General Steel Q4 Loss Narrows Significantly

(RTTNews) - Beijing-based steel manufacturer General Steel Holdings, Inc. (GSI), Thursday reported a sharp reduction in loss for the fourth quarter, but a decline in total sales.

Net loss attributable to the company narrowed to $102 thousands or $0.002 per share, from $49.9 million, or $0.91 per share in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The company, however, reported an operating income of $9.2 million, compared with an operating loss of $54.0 million last year.

The company said it recognized other operating income of $66.7 million due to a change in the fair value of profit sharing liability during the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $22.5 million last year, reflecting a change in the estimated fair value of the Company's profit sharing liability.

Due to a back-log in production for equipment maintenance and upgrade, and a decrease in average selling price of rebar, total sales for the quarter declined 24.2 percent to $548.7 million, from $723.4 million during the year-ago period.

Sales volume was down 19.0 percent to about 1.2 million metric tons, from 1.4 million metric tons in the prior-year quarter.