ArcelorMittal keeps profit forecast despite dimmer market view

By Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, said it would do better in the second half of the year than the first and kept its 2015 profit targets, despite cutting its global forecast for steel demand. The company said it expected second-half improvements to come from the United States, notably at its plant in Calvert, Alabama, and lower overall costs at its steel and mining businesses. "Those factors point us towards the lower end of the guidance range. If market conditions improve in the second half, I'd expect to be at the middle or top half," Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal told a conference call. ArcelorMittal, which produces 6 to 7 percent of the world's steel, repeated its 2015 for core profit to come in at between $6 and $7 billion from $7.2 billion in 2014. The company's shares rose as much as 4 percent early on Friday and were up 1.4 percent at 0745 GMT. ArcelorMittal said global apparent steel consumption, which includes inventory changes, would be flat in 2015, compared to a previous forecast of growth of between 0.5 and 1.5 percent. CHINESE CONTRACTION The company made sharp downward adjustments to the outlook for Brazil, the former Soviet states and China. Europe is the only region where it expects apparent steel consumption to grow. Nearly half of ArcelorMittal's steel shipments are in Europe and just over a quarter in North America, with at least 10 percent in Brazil. It hardly has any Chinese business. ArcelorMittal said its downward revision to the U.S. market outlook was largely driven by destocking, while "real" consumption was actually higher than in Europe. "We should not get the impression the U.S. is not doing well," Mittal said. The group said it expected Chinese consumption to contract by up to 1 percent, having previously forecast growth of between 0.5 to 1 percent. While ArcelorMittal has limited exposure to China, the world's largest consumer of steel is an important driver of the global market. While Chinese companies exported more than in 2014, ArcelorMittal said it had noticed a decline in Chinese exports over the course of the first half. ArcelorMittal's core profit in the second quarter fell 20 percent rom the same period last year to $1.40 billion, just above the $1.38 million expected in a Reuters poll of 12 analysts. It said core profit at its mining business fell 70 percent because of a decline in iron ore prices. (Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and David Clarke)