The steel scrap recycling company Scholz and its American subsidiary Liberty Iron & Metal have generated revenues of around €700m in the first six months of 2017. Adjusted operating earnings amounted to €25m, according to the unaudited first-half results released by their parent company Chiho Environmental Group on Monday. Scholz was "back on the right track", explain the company's Chinese owners.
Last year, the German ferrous scrap recycler had reported an after-tax loss of almost €65m for the first half, and its operating result had also been in the red the red with a loss before interest and tax of €22m. Total revenues in the first half of 2016, however, were still significantly higher than in the current year, at nearly €900m.
Chiho described the Scholz Group's performance in Europe and the US during the six-month reporting period as "good". The measures taken to improve Scholz's financial situation had had a positive effect on business, according to the parent company. At the same time, the subsidiary had benefited from the rise in scrap prices since the end of 2016, as well as the high demand from European and American electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills and increased scrap demand from US scrap merchants. As a result, both the sales volumes and average prices rose.
Chiho also reported improved figures for its home market of China. The concern's consolidated revenues climbed by around half to more than €240m. Adjusted operating income for the concern as a whole lay at €46m, following last year's first-half operating loss of €15m. The Chinese mixed metals recycler, now also active in Europe and the US, reported net earnings of €23m for the first half. A year earlier, the concern had reported a loss of €18m.
Chiho attributed its good performance to the stable economic environment and reduced volatility in commodity prices, as well as to the restructuring steps and deleveraging measures affecting Scholz and to synergy effects between its core operations in China and the newly acquired business in Europe and the US.
