VARNAMO, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Rising steel prices and their effects on Finnveden have to an ever-increasing extent attracted the interest of the capital market recently. Against this background, there is reason to inform the market about Finnveden's dependence on steel raw materials.
Finnveden purchases steel raw materials in the form of sheet metal, wire, bar, forged items and cast goods for a total of about SEK 700 M annually. Purchases of sheet metal represent about 30% of the total steel purchases by the Group.
As announced previously, Finnveden has fixed prices for sheet metal during the period 2003-2004. New prices will be negotiated with suppliers and customers prior to 2005. With regard to other steel raw materials, Finnveden has dealt with material price increases on an ongoing basis during 2004 through pricing agreements with suppliers and customers. The impact on earnings during the first half of the year was a negative SEK 9 M.
In conjunction with future reports, Finnveden intends to continue providing information about steel prices and their consequences for the Group.
"Our basic position is that steel price increases must be transferred to the end-customer," says Tommy Boork, CEO of Finnveden.
FinnvedenAB(publ)
For further information, please contact:Tommy Boork, President and CEO, +46 31 734 59 10
Finnveden is an international engineering group, with strong market positions in the automotive industry. Products include fasteners, engine components and structural components.
Finnvedenis listed on Stockholmsborsen (Stockholm Exchange) and has annual sales of about SEK 4.6 billion, with 3,200 employees. Additional information is available on Finnveden's website: www.finnveden.com
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/10/05/20041005BIT00120/wkr0001.pdf