TOKYO (Reuters) -Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker, posted on Thursday an 18% drop in nine-month net profit to 362 billion yen ($2.4 billion) amid sluggish steel demand in Japan and overseas.
On its bid for U.S. Steel – which was blocked last month by then U.S. President Joe Biden, Nippon Steel said that there can be no guarantee that the transaction will close. Together with U.S. Steel, it filed a number of lawsuits challenging Biden’s decision.
Nippon Steel kept its net profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March unchanged at 310 billion yen.
“Increase in exports due to the expanded structural supply/demand gap in China continues to cause global spreads weakness,” Nippon Steel said. “There is no prospect of improvement in real demand and margins at home and abroad.”
Nippon Steel said on Thursday it planned to sell all 10.7 million shares in holds in Kobe Steel, with the latter expected to do the same with all 6.7 million Nippon Steel shares it owns.
($1 = 152.4600 yen)
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
