Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands), the parent company of the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest, increased its EBITDA by 11% in 2024 compared to 2023, to $957 million, according to updated data published in its annual report.
According to the report, EBITDA in the metallurgical segment grew by 82% to $289 million, while in the mining segment it remained unchanged at $768 million.
At the same time, it is specified that last year, corporate overhead costs and eliminations amounted to $100 million (in 2023 – $68 million). As a result, in 2024, the mining segment’s share in the group’s EBITDA (excluding corporate overhead costs and eliminations) was 73% compared to 83% in 2023, while the metallurgical segment’s share last year increased to 27% compared to 17% in the previous year.
The growth in the group’s EBITDA was primarily due to an increase in sales of own iron ore products, as well as billets and long products, operational improvements, the positive impact of the hryvnia’s depreciation against the US dollar on costs, increased efficiency at both joint ventures, lower raw material costs due to lower prices for coal, coke, and iron ore, and reduced purchases of third-party raw materials for rolling mills.
These factors were partially offset by lower sales prices, higher overall logistics costs, primarily due to increased sea shipments from Ukraine to distant markets, and higher energy costs, primarily due to higher electricity costs.
In 2024, the Group’s EBITDA margin was 12% (unchanged from 2023). The EBITDA margin of the mining segment was 20% (down 6 percentage points (pp) compared to 2023), while the EBITDA margin of the metallurgical segment was 6% (up 3 pp).
In 2024, net cash used in investing activities amounted to $197 million, down 34% from 2023. The total amount of cash used to acquire property, plant, and equipment and intangible assets decreased by 29% to $216 million. Interest income doubled to $13 million, while proceeds from the sale of property, plant, and equipment and intangible assets decreased slightly to $6 million.
In 2024, net cash used in financing activities amounted to $241 million, compared to $115 million in 2023. Net repayment of loans and borrowings amounted to $216 million (in 2023 – $185 million), mainly due to bond redemptions. Net trade financing amounted to $25 million, compared to $70 million a year ago.
In 2024, Metinvest adhered to a fairly balanced investment policy, dictated by wartime restrictions in Ukraine and the need to decarbonize the European steel industry. Investments in Ukraine were primarily directed toward employee safety, ensuring the availability and operation of critical equipment, strengthening energy resilience, and complying with environmental standards at the companies.
In addition, particular attention was paid to resolving logistical issues. Although most large strategic projects remained frozen, Metinvest launched a new project to concentrate enrichment waste at the Northern GOK. It aims to reduce waste volumes, lower operating and capital expenditures, and minimize environmental impact while maintaining production volumes.
At the same time, the group is also preparing for the country’s post-war recovery. Outside Ukraine, Metinvest is working on the Adria project to build a low-carbon steel plant in Italy.
The group’s total capital expenditures decreased by 17% to $235 million. Approximately 83% of this amount was allocated to maintenance projects and 17% to strategic projects.
Metinvest increased the capacity utilization of most of its enterprises. This was an important achievement for the group, given the prolonged impact of the war. The resumption of shipping in the Black Sea played a decisive role in our work. This ensured a reliable export route and allowed us to increase delivery volumes. At the same time, significant challenges remained. Throughout the year, power outages had a negative impact on profitability. In addition, despite incredible resilience throughout most of the year, the approaching front line forced us to gradually suspend operations at the Pokrovsk Coal Group,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of the group, in the report.
As reported, Metinvest’s consolidated net loss in 2024 increased sixfold compared to 2023, to $1.152 billion from $194 million, while revenue rose to $8.050 billion from $7.397 billion.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine, in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding company are the SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of the Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Group, together with the administration and the Defense Council of Kryvyi Rih, has focused its efforts on major projects to renovate the city’s healthcare facilities, according to a press release citing Igor Toniev, CEO of United Mining and Processing Plant (UMPP).
“The largest project currently being implemented by Metinvest is the overhaul of the buildings of the polyclinic and X-ray department of Kryvyi Rih City Hospital No. 3. The company has allocated almost UAH 125 million for this large-scale work. This month, the overhaul of the main inpatient building of City Hospital No. 7 is scheduled to begin. Metinvest is allocating UAH 61.6 million for the development of project documentation, general construction, roofing, and facade work,” said the top manager.
At a meeting between Metinvest Group management and the head of the City Defense Council, Oleksandr Vilkul, it was noted that the project to overhaul the third hospital began in 2023, with funding from both Kryvyi Rih and Metinvest. Equipment for X-rays and fluorography was purchased with funds from the local budget. Also, the second and third floors of the polyclinic will be renovated at the expense of the city. As part of the project to overhaul the polyclinic of the third hospital, the group undertook the construction work and modernization of the first floor, the X-ray department, and the construction of a shelter for 350 people.
Vilkul stated that the city is actively implementing a large number of projects in the field of medicine. In particular, there is one large-scale project that is starting – the reconstruction of Hospital No. 7, which is the main cluster institution for the northern part of the district, Zhovti Vody, and the surrounding villages. The project involves the renovation of the main inpatient department. The project is being financed from three sources: the city budget, a grant won in a competition organized by the Ministry of Infrastructure (this will be co-financed by the European Investment Bank through the Ministry of Infrastructure), and funds from Metinvest.
“By joining forces, we are implementing a medical project that is important for the community,” Vilkul stated.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine, in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding company are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of the Metinvest Group.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and a member of Metinvest Group, reduced blast furnace coke production by 0.3% year-on-year to 434.1 thousand tons from 435.3 thousand tons in January-June this year.
According to the company, it produced 76.3 thousand tons of coke in June, compared to 76 thousand tons in the previous month.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke production by 2.1% in 2024 compared to 2023 – to 874.7 thousand tons from 856.8 thousand tons.
“In 2023, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke production by 16% compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks has a full technological cycle of processing coke products.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group increased environmental spending at its enterprises by 2% year-on-year to $170 million in 2024, according to Metinvest’s presentation at the Barclays ESG Emerging Markets Corporate Day, published on the Irish Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
According to the presentation, the group increased its investments in energy efficiency projects by more than 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, spending about $17 million.
The document states that the group has benefited from the Black Sea Corridor opened in the second half of 2023: it helped to increase capacity utilization and open up effective access to remote markets, which in turn contributed to operational and financial results.
At the same time, the group’s operations at Pokrovskugol were suspended due to changing conditions on the frontline, energy supply shortages and the security situation.
The presentation notes that the global pricing environment remained volatile amid ongoing uncertainty caused by trade tensions in the United States, as well as other geopolitical and economic factors.
“Metinvest emphasized that with changes in supply chains, assets outside Ukraine have adapted to the new circumstances. Processing plants in Italy and the UK are now focusing on their local markets, with little or no Ukrainian supply. The plant in Bulgaria continues to use Ukrainian raw materials. American coking coal mines have increased their supplies to Ukrainian coke plants.
According to the presentation, Metinvest has been consistently fulfilling its environmental obligations even in times of war, prioritizing energy security management to ensure stable operation of its assets. Thus, the Group has purchased diesel generators and started installing gas piston units. It also plans to deploy solar power plants to increase energy autonomy at its production facilities in Ukraine, while critical repairs continue to keep dust and gas emissions below permissible levels.
In addition, Pivnichny GOK launched a project to thicken concentration waste to reduce the volume of sludge sent to the tailings pond.
Air emissions increased by 5% due to increased production at Northern GOK and Kametstal. Water consumption increased by 6% following the launch of an additional unit at Kametstal’s thermal power plant. The Group recycled and reused 92% of water consumed from all sources.
The volume of waste generated increased by 10%, reflecting higher capacity utilization at Northern GOK. Almost all of the waste was non-hazardous, mainly overburden and tailings from iron ore production.
The presentation states that Metinvest remains committed to the future of its green steel and continues to explore opportunities to move towards carbon neutrality, focusing on improving the quality of iron ore products at Northern GOK as its magnetite ores are well suited for pelletizing; Northern GOK is already capable of producing 2.3 million tonnes of high quality pellets per year, which are used in direct reduced iron technology. Efforts are also underway to build a new, state-of-the-art green steel plant in Italy in partnership with Danieli with a planned annual capacity of 2.7 million tons of low-carbon hot-rolled steel.
The way to decarbonize Metinvest’s Ukrainian assets will be determined after the active phase of the war is over and its impact is assessed.
As of the end of 2024, the Group’s adjusted headcount amounted to 40,535 thousand people (excluding employees with suspended employment), down 13% year-on-year. As of the end of 2024, about 6,000 employees served in the Ukrainian defense forces, which is 15% of the adjusted headcount.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. Its businesses are located in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has manufactured and assembled a 3 ton armor shell to cover key elements of the Patriot system as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative.
According to the group’s press release, Metinvest continues to strengthen the protection of Ukraine’s air defense forces as part of the Steel Front initiative, this time by creating a shelter for the Patriot air defense system.
It is specified that the protection consists of a steel frame and armored plates. The design covers several important components of the system: the SAM control station, radar comparator (Doghouse), and generator.
“In such war conditions, every minute that air defense works saves lives. Our protective shells are designed for this very purpose – to ensure that the equipment remains in service even under fire,” commented Oleksandr Myronenko, Group Chief Operating Officer.
In addition, it is reported that since the beginning of 2025, Metinvest has begun systematic work on protection for air defense systems. The first shells were installed at air defense facilities back in the spring, and since then, the designs have been constantly improved. Each new project is adapted to a specific location and type of equipment.
Dozens of specialists are involved in the production of the armor: milling, turning, drilling, planing, electric and gas welders, metalworkers, blacksmiths, and painters. For security reasons, Metivest has moved all production for the army off-site: these are secret sites whose location is not disclosed.
“Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front is the largest private initiative to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As part of the project, SCM Group companies manufacture and supply the army with modern shelters, equipment protection, electronic warfare equipment, vehicles, drones, fortifications and other equipment that is critical at the front. The initiative focuses on the in-house production of solutions adapted to war conditions.
“Staliy Front already manufactures protective screens for vehicles such as Abrams, Bradley, Roshel, Kozak, and MT-LB, which perform combat missions on a daily basis.
The Patriot air defense system is an American medium- and long-range air defense system developed by Raytheon. Designed to intercept aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, it has a phased array radar and high-precision interceptor missiles.
The mining and metallurgical group Metinvest is transforming its business processes with artificial intelligence (AI) through automation, the use of drones, and the application of these tools in the financial sector.
“In 2020, we were able to automate about 70% of our processes, with 30% remaining inaccessible due to technological limitations. Today, this figure has risen to 95%. This opens up completely new opportunities, and we are actively moving in this direction,” said Anton Ishchenko, head of the R&D product development team at Metinvest Digital, at the 13th Annual Forum of Financial Directors of Ukraine in Kyiv.
According to him, in five years of working with intelligent process automation, more than 500 solutions based on various technologies have been implemented, which has made it possible to automate about 200,000 hours of work, equivalent to approximately 100 full-time employees.
He noted that modern intelligent automation at Metinvest is based on a combination of RPA (routine operation robotization), low-code platforms (rapid solution development without complex coding), Process and Task Mining (process analysis to identify inefficiencies), and AI (automation of complex tasks and real-time data processing).
One of the main innovations is the active involvement of employees in the automation process. At Metinvest, employees independently record their business processes and work activities using Task Mining, Power Automate, and SAP Scripts. This allows for the formation of high-quality and structured automation requirements from the ground up, reduces the workload on business analysts, and speeds up the transition from idea to finished solution. The collected data and processes are analyzed automatically using AI and then quickly transformed into working automated scenarios. As a result, the time and resources spent on development and implementation are reduced by tens of percent. In the context of limited business budgets, this approach has become extremely important, emphasized Ishchenko.
The result of this practice is the creation of the Application Warehouse corporate platform, a centralized repository of universal applications for automating typical business processes in various departments of the company. This significantly increases the availability of digital tools: new solutions are quickly implemented, distributed among employees, and do not need to be developed from scratch for each task. Currently, about a thousand employees use the platform.
“We continue to invest in research and development to create business value and remain among the leaders in digital transformation,” Ishchenko concluded.
In turn, the group’s CFO, Yulia Dankova, pointed to the comprehensive implementation of computer vision and intelligent document processing technologies in the company’s financial and production processes. According to her, modern solutions based on Computer Vision enable instant reading, analysis, and classification of documents from various sources, from scanners to corporate mail, without the need for prior training.
Since 2023, Metinvest has been using its own intelligent document processing system, myOCR. The platform, which processes up to 40,000 pages of documents per month, including confidential ones, has been implemented at seven large enterprises of the group. It saves about 20,000 hours of working time per year and is integrated with a universal translator from foreign languages into Ukrainian. It contains modules for identifying stamps, signatures, contextual analysis, document classification, data verification, and extraction. At its core are advanced AI models.
“For example, a company is importing goods from an Italian factory. The automated process receives a package of documents in Italian and English, compares them with the accounting system data, generates an authentic translation into Ukrainian, adds it to the package, and transfers it to the electronic document storage system. For financial departments, this has been a real breakthrough in the speed and convenience of document flow,” said the CFO.
The CFO added that the company has implemented a unified solution for SPAIS computer vision systems. This system helps to identify safety violations in production, such as employees being in hazardous areas or without personal protective equipment. When a violation is detected, the program signals it and stores the data in the appropriate systems. This solution is already being used at several Ukrainian enterprises of the group. SPAIS also helps detect damage at Metinvest’s production facilities using drones.
Another solution from the family of computer vision systems at Metinvest enterprises, which has undergone pilot testing and is being implemented for industrial use, is automatic slab quality control.
Dankova emphasized that the group’s assets operate exclusively on proven, uncompromised licensed systems. Microsoft solutions and in-house developments based on the Microsoft technology stack are recognized as priority technologies in this area.
