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Bulgarian Workers In Rally Against End Of Kremikovtzi Steel |
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| Wednesday October 29th, 2008 / 10h58 |
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SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP)--About 2,000 workers of the biggest Bulgarian steelmaking complex Kremikovtzi, on the outskirts of Sofia, staged protests in the capital Wednesday against the pending closure of the insolvent plant.
"The state which is the (plant's) biggest creditor must intervene immediately. The protests of the workers risk getting out of control," said Vasil Yanachkov, leader of the left-wing union KNSB.
"We have not received salaries for two months now. We are running into debt and have not paid our heating and electricity bills," a demonstrator added.
They urged the government that holds a 25% stake in the plant, to give 40 million leva (EUR20 million) for the purchase of basic raw materials. This would prevent the total shut down of the blast furnaces which might be irreversible.
Kremikovtzi is majority owned by Indian company Global Steel Holding of Pramod Mittal, the younger brother of ArcelorMittal's steel tycoon Laksmi Mittal, who made several unsuccessful attempts to sell it.
Built under communism, the plant is still the biggest steelmaker In the Balkans, directly employing more than 5,000 workers and contributing 10% of Bulgaria's total exports.
In August, a court in Sofia began insolvency proceedings against Kremikovtzi and appointed temporary receivers at the plant, opening the way for its sale.
But the two major bidders - Lakshmi Mittal's ArcelorMittal (MT) and Ukrainian group Vorskla Steel of Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Jevago - have since appeared lukewarm on the deal while press reports said the international financial crisis has prompted Jevago to totally lose interest.
Jevago withdraw last week from a tolling agreement he had with the plant and stopped delivering raw material and coal for it.
One of Kremikovtzi's receivers, Tsvetan Bankov, told national television Wednesday that the plant narrowly avoided an explosion last week, when the blast furnaces faced emergency closure because of lack of coal.
Monday, the plant's management ordered a step-by-step blowing out of the two working blast furnaces which will bring to a halt the whole production process.
And although experts said that no investor would invest in a dying plant, Bankov said there was still "certain interest from investors," adding that a deal cannot be expected until mid-November.
Apart from the threat of total closure, Kremikovtzi also runs the risk of being closed for environmental reasons as its fuming chimneys need costly upgrades to meet ecological norms.
The plant also has outstanding debts of EUR1.5 million to creditors and suppliers.
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| Wednesday October 29th, 2008 / 10h58 |
Source : Dowjones Business News |
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Profil Société |
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| Activité |
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ArcelorMittal est le n ° 1 mondial de la sidérurgie. Le CA (avant éliminations intragroupe) par famille de produits se répartit comme suit :
-... |
| >> Suite |
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| Prévisions |
2008 * |
2009 |
2010 |
| BNA |
5,03 € |
0,30 € |
1,94 € |
| Dividende |
1,08 € |
0,56 € |
0,57 € |
| Rendement |
5,72% |
2,98% |
3,03% |
| PER |
3,75 |
63,16 |
9,73 |
|
| >> Suite |
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|
| Chiffres clés |
| Résultat opérationnel |
|
10 069 M€ |
| Résultat net |
8 046 M€ |
| Rentabilité financière |
19,26% |
| Effectif |
311 466 |
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| >> Suite |
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Obj. de cours (*) :
Potentiel : +27,64% |
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24, |
06 € |
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Prévisions |
|
2008 * |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
BNA (*) |
|
5,03 € |
|
0,30 € |
|
1,94 € |
|
|
|
|
Dividende (*) |
|
1,08 € |
|
0,56 € |
|
0,57 € |
|
|
|
|
Rendement (*) |
|
5,72% |
|
2,98% |
|
3,03% |
|
|
|
|
PER (*) |
|
3,75 |
|
63,16 |
|
9,73 |
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