By Fakir HassenJohannesburg, Oct 29 (PTI) ArcelorMittal SA, theembattled South African subsidiary in the global portfolio ofsteel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, has been seeking its fourthchief executive after its current CEO Wim de Klerk announcedhis retirement.
Despite having an 80 per cent market share in the localsteel market, the AMSA has battled against cheaper importsfrom China and falling global steel prices.
Even a government intervention introducing a 10 per centtariff on imported steel in the face of huge job cuts afterMittal met leaders personally has not helped resolve thecrisis facing the company.
The AMSA last made a profit in 2011 of less than amillion dollars, with cumulative losses since then sitting atmore than a billion dollars.
The AMSA's share price has fallen 98 per cent since itspeak in 1998, when the company was formed after Mittal boughtout the ailing state-owned steelmaker Iscor.
Mittal had initially been brought in to rescue Iscor byintroducing the expertise he had developed elsewhere,successfully turning the company around.
At the time of his appointment in September 2016, DeKlerk was lauded for having the experience to turn around AMSAfailing fortunes, but analysts expressed concern that anyincoming chief executive would face the same challenges thatDe Klerk was brought in to resolve.
Peter Major, an analyst at Cadiz Corporate Solutions, wasquoted as saying by the Sunday Times that De Klerk's departurewas "devastating" in the face of South AfricaÂ’s miningindustry, which had little prospect of recovery.
Paulo Trinchero, CEO of the Southern African Institute ofSteel Construction, told the weekly that the market wasshrinking, and the costs were going up.
"The costs for AMSA in the past five years have gone updrastically. Even some of the interventions by government,such as reducing imports, have come a bit too late in theday," Trinchero said.
But in a short statement Lakshmi Mittal dismissedconcerns that there would be huge retrenchments soon at AMSA.
"ArcelorMittal remains fully committed to the SouthAfrican business, which is integral in our strategy for theAfrican continent," Mittal said. PTI FH UZM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.