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Seguire il comparto negli USA fa paura... continua il calo dei ratings, peggiorano le previsioni sull'andamento del business nel 2009. Per US Steel, ad esempio, S&P dà oramai per scontato che il 2009 si chiuderà con un calo del fatturato del 50%.
Ed il 2010, ben che vada, rischia di portare ad un miglioramento davvero modesto.
Nel mentre, i proventi dell'emissione di un bond convertibile sono destinati principalmente a ripagare debito conle banche.
United States Steel Corp. Downgraded; Outlook Stable
NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) April 28, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its ratings, including its corporate credit rating, on Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. to 'BB' from
'BB+'. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch with negative implications where they were placed on April 16, 2009. The outlook is stable.
At the same time, Standard & Poor's assigned a 'BB' issue level rating (same level as the corporate credit rating) and '3' recovery rating to the company's proposed $300 million senior convertible notes due 2014, issued under the company's shelf registration filed on March 6, 2007. The '3' recovery rating indicates our expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery in the event of a payment default.
Proceeds from the proposed notes, combined with a concurrent offering of 18 million shares of common stock, will be used to repay outstanding bank debt and other general corporate purposes.
"The downgrade reflects our 2009 operating assumption that given the challenging steel industry conditions, 2009 revenues for the company could be down by as much as 50% compared with 2008, resulting in a financial profile that is no longer consistent with the prior rating," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Marie Shmaruk. "Moreover, given the unpredictable timing of a rebound and our expectations for a long, slow recovery, improvements thereafter will likely result in credit metrics that we would consider to be more consistent with a 'BB' rating.
" Specifically, we estimate that if revenues improved by 20% and EBITDA margins approximated 7% in 2010, both still reflective of a very weak steel market, adjusted debt to EBITDA will remain more than 5x and funds from operations (FFO) about 20%, levels more appropriate for a 'BB' rating.
Although in our view U.S. Steel has taken steps to adjust its operations in response to market conditions and ensure liquidity (including reducing capital spending and its dividend, shuttering capacity, suspending share repurchases, and executing capital markets transactions), it is our assessment that measures taken to date will unlikely be sufficient to improve financial metrics to levels consistent with a 'BB+' rating before 2011.
Ratings on U.S. Steel Corp. reflect the integrated steel producer's capital-intensive operations, exposure to highly cyclical and competitive markets, a high degree of operating leverage, and aggressive financial leverage (including underfunded post-retirement benefit obligations).
The ratings also reflect the company's good liquidity, good scope and breadth of product and operations, and benefits of its backward integration into iron ore and coke production.
The outlook is stable. Despite our expectation that operating conditions during the next several quarters will remain difficult for the company, as well as for others operating in the steel sector, resulting in a very weak
financial profile and credit metrics for U.S. Steel, the company has taken significant steps to enhance its liquidity position, which we expect at this time should be sufficient to fund operations through the current downturn.
However, a negative rating action could result from the combination of a more pronounced or prolonged downturn in the steel sector than currently factored into the rating, our assessment of operating prospects as 2009 progresses and the company's liquidity position deteriorates at less than $1 billion as a result of needing to fund continued operating losses.
A revision of the outlook to positive would likely be contingent upon a sustained improvement in market conditions allowing the company to improve its adjusted debt to EBITDA to less than 4x and funds from operations to total debt of more than 30%.
Ed il 2010, ben che vada, rischia di portare ad un miglioramento davvero modesto.
Nel mentre, i proventi dell'emissione di un bond convertibile sono destinati principalmente a ripagare debito conle banche.
United States Steel Corp. Downgraded; Outlook Stable
NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) April 28, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its ratings, including its corporate credit rating, on Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. to 'BB' from
'BB+'. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch with negative implications where they were placed on April 16, 2009. The outlook is stable.
At the same time, Standard & Poor's assigned a 'BB' issue level rating (same level as the corporate credit rating) and '3' recovery rating to the company's proposed $300 million senior convertible notes due 2014, issued under the company's shelf registration filed on March 6, 2007. The '3' recovery rating indicates our expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery in the event of a payment default.
Proceeds from the proposed notes, combined with a concurrent offering of 18 million shares of common stock, will be used to repay outstanding bank debt and other general corporate purposes.
"The downgrade reflects our 2009 operating assumption that given the challenging steel industry conditions, 2009 revenues for the company could be down by as much as 50% compared with 2008, resulting in a financial profile that is no longer consistent with the prior rating," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Marie Shmaruk. "Moreover, given the unpredictable timing of a rebound and our expectations for a long, slow recovery, improvements thereafter will likely result in credit metrics that we would consider to be more consistent with a 'BB' rating.
" Specifically, we estimate that if revenues improved by 20% and EBITDA margins approximated 7% in 2010, both still reflective of a very weak steel market, adjusted debt to EBITDA will remain more than 5x and funds from operations (FFO) about 20%, levels more appropriate for a 'BB' rating.
Although in our view U.S. Steel has taken steps to adjust its operations in response to market conditions and ensure liquidity (including reducing capital spending and its dividend, shuttering capacity, suspending share repurchases, and executing capital markets transactions), it is our assessment that measures taken to date will unlikely be sufficient to improve financial metrics to levels consistent with a 'BB+' rating before 2011.
Ratings on U.S. Steel Corp. reflect the integrated steel producer's capital-intensive operations, exposure to highly cyclical and competitive markets, a high degree of operating leverage, and aggressive financial leverage (including underfunded post-retirement benefit obligations).
The ratings also reflect the company's good liquidity, good scope and breadth of product and operations, and benefits of its backward integration into iron ore and coke production.
The outlook is stable. Despite our expectation that operating conditions during the next several quarters will remain difficult for the company, as well as for others operating in the steel sector, resulting in a very weak
financial profile and credit metrics for U.S. Steel, the company has taken significant steps to enhance its liquidity position, which we expect at this time should be sufficient to fund operations through the current downturn.
However, a negative rating action could result from the combination of a more pronounced or prolonged downturn in the steel sector than currently factored into the rating, our assessment of operating prospects as 2009 progresses and the company's liquidity position deteriorates at less than $1 billion as a result of needing to fund continued operating losses.
A revision of the outlook to positive would likely be contingent upon a sustained improvement in market conditions allowing the company to improve its adjusted debt to EBITDA to less than 4x and funds from operations to total debt of more than 30%.
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