• Significant progress with creditors including withdrawal of petitions by U.K. HMRC
• Further funding injected into LIBERTY Steel UK to secure continued operations
• Continued progress to restructure the Group to focus on its core businesses
• Strong international steel and aluminium markets have supported robust performance

LIBERTY Steel Group’s Restructuring and Transformation Committee (RTC) today reports on the continuing developments across the Group and the sustained progress achieved to date.

Jeffrey Kabel, Chief Transformation Officer, said: “We’re pleased to report good further progress in our negotiations with creditors including U.K’s HMRC. We are committed to repaying all creditors and this is an important step in enabling us to restructure and achieve long-term refinancing. 

Our core international businesses have continued to generate strong returns and achieve record production levels despite the sky-high energy costs facing energy-intensive industries across the U.K and Europe. We will continue to progress our efforts to refocus and refinance our operations for the long-term.”

Europe

• LIBERTY Ostrava in the Czech Republic has started an extensive two year programme of modifications to its Steckel hot strip mill, costing around EUR 40 million. This will reinforce reliability and product quality, while increasing capacity utilisation to more than 1 million tonnes of flat products a year. Ostrava’s tube plant also expects to hire more than one hundred new skilled workers this year to support its drive to increase the production of seamless pipes aimed at the US oil drilling and transport markets.
• LIBERTY Galati in Romania has invested EUR 5.5 million in strengthening its Hot Rolled Coils production line to increase productivity of the mill and improve its environmental performance.
• LIBERTY Częstochowa, Poland’s only producer of low-carbon GREENSTEEL plate, has started the renovation of its two cutting lines, crucial for the successful realisation of its new “55-65-85” production strategy which initially aims to achieve the shipment of 55,000 tons of steel plate per month.
• LIBERTY Magona, Italy’s leader in galvanized and pre-painted flat rolled coils production, is planning to achieve a capacity increase of more than 20% this year. The expansion is expected to come from the addition of new capacity for painting production and a new range of galvanized and pre-painted products, supported by enhanced customer service and broader international sales network. LIBERTY Skopje in North Macedonia is also planning to increase its production to around 20,000 tonnes a month, up by 65% through operational and planning efficiencies.

In response to the progress achieved by the RTC, Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance, commented:  

“With refinancing initiatives well underway and our businesses performing well, this will be a formative year for our organisation as we work through our transformation plan. As our restructuring and refinancing programmes continue to progress positively we are also making operational improvements to further enhance the performance of our core businesses against a backdrop of robust demand for our products.”