Mechel\'s second quarter net profit down 38 pct to $192 mln

Russian steel and coking coal producer Mechel saw its second quarter net profit slump 38 percent on the previous quarter to $191.906 million to US GAAP, the company said on Tuesday. The firm\'s first half net profit soared 315 percent year-on-year to $501.022 million, Mechel said in a statement. Second quarter revenue increased 18 percent on the previous quarter to $3.472 billion, while first half revenue jumped 48 percent to $6.406 billion compared to the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA rose 8 percent to $612.324 million in the second quarter of the year, while first half EBITDA increased 50 percent to $1.179 billion. \"Despite a few difficulties we had to contend with early in the year, we concentrated on restoring production volumes in our mining segment while preserving high capacity utilization rates in steel and other segments,\" Mechel Chief Executive Officer Yevgeny Mikhel was quoted in the statement as saying. \"Our efforts were also directed to the implementation of the company’s ambitious investment program. As a result, in the second quarter we demonstrated a growth in mining volumes and sales of nearly all our products, which, when combined with fairly favorable market conditions, enabled us to improve the financial results of the previous period.\"