Nippon Steel will sell shares of South Korean POSCO

Nippon Steel announced that it will sell a total of 2.9 million shares of South Korea’s POSCO Holdings that it owns. It is stated in the message of the Japanese steel producer.

As noted, the sale of shares is designed to increase the efficiency of assets by consolidating them. The terms of the sale will be determined based on the results of the assessment of market conditions and other factors.

Nippon Steel said the impact of the share sale on the company’s earnings in the 2024/2025 fiscal year (ending March 2025) is not yet known.

Since 2000, the companies have developed cross-shareholdings and technology sharing under a strategic alliance agreement. As noted in Nippon Steel, the partnership will continue even after the sale of shares.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Nippon Steel in the 2023/2024 financial year increased revenue by 11.2% y/y, to 8.87 trillion yen ($56.9 billion). Meanwhile, operating income and net income fell 5.1% and 20.8% year-on-year – to 869.7 billion yen and 549.4 billion yen, respectively, on a consolidated basis.

The company expects consolidated steel production to reach 40.5 million tons in FY2024/2025, with unconsolidated shipments expected to reach 32 million tons. In FY2023/2024, the company’s unconsolidated steel shipments grew by 1.8% y/y – up to 32.03 million tons, 44% in value terms was exported compared to 43% in the previous financial year.