Last checked at 22 May 2014 07:00
22 May 2014
Ferrexpo plc.AGM Statement
At today's Annual General Meeting, and further to the Interim Management Statement released on 17 April 2014, the Non-executive Chairman Michael Abrahams will make the following statement.
Ferrexpo's operations continue to be unaffected by recent events in Ukraine. Both production and shipment of pellets have been in line with expectations, and costs have continued to reduce, benefiting from improved efficiency and a weaker local currency.
A second flotation plant was successfully commissioned in 1Q 2014 and the capital investment programme remains on track to increase output to a run rate of 12 million tonnes of pellets per annum.
Ukrainian VAT was refunded normally in April and the government has expressed its intention to issue bonds for outstanding VAT in local currency. As at the exchange rate at the end of April, Ferrexpo is expected to qualify to receive bonds with a face value of US$117 million in the coming months. This amounts to 53% of the total balance outstanding in Ukraine as at 30th April 2014, with the remainder relating to current VAT or amounts presently in the court process.
For further information, please contact:
Ferrexpo:
Rob Simmons +44 20 7389 8300
Maitland:
Peter Ogden +44 207 379 5151
Liz Morley
Notes to Editors:
Ferrexpo plc ('Ferrexpo' or the 'Group') is a Swiss headquartered iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. It has been mining, processing and selling high quality iron ore pellets to the global steel industry for over 35 years. Ferrexpo's resource base is one of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The Group is the 5th largest supplier of pellets to the global steel industry and the largest exporter of pellets from the CIS. In 2013, it produced 10.8 million tonnes of pellets, a 12% increase compared to 2012. Ferrexpo has a diversified customer base supplying steel mills in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany and other European states, as well as in China, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Ferrexpo is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker FXPO.
For further information, please visit www.ferrexpo.com