Engineering group Vesuvius said on Wednesday that steel production had increased during the first quarter of 2021, leading to revenue growth.
Vesuvius said first-quarter steel production was up 3.7% year-on-year, with all regions, except for the US and Mexico, reporting production increases compared to 2020.
The FTSE 250-listed group also highlighted that trends were positive across key foundry end-markets, with global light vehicle and heavy commercial vehicle production increasing 10.5% and 6.5%, respectively.
Vesuvius stated the “positive market environment” and some market share gains were reflected by a constant currency growth in revenues of 7% compared to the same period a year ago, although the firm did acknowledge that revenues still remained lower than in the same period in 2019.
Looking forward, Vesuvius stated that although it was “still early in the year” and noted uncertainty remained around the pandemic and potential future impacts to key regions like India and Brazil, based on “the good commercial performance” in the first three months of the trading year and “clear evidence of end markets continuing to improve”, it expects to deliver a full-year group trading profit “moderately ahead| of current consensus estimates of £138.0m.
As of 0845 BST, Vesuvius shares were up 0.86% at 585.0p.
