Metso Outotec reports profit drop in Q3

The Finland-based minerals processing and metals refining company Metso Outotec reported on Wednesday declining profits in July-September this year, reported Xinhua.

Sales of the company in the third quarter (Q3) of 2020 amounted to 985 million euros, while in the respective figure for the same period of 2019 was 1,073 million euros. Profits in Q3 were 109 million euros, while the figure for the corresponding quarter of 2019 was 153 million euros, the company said in a press release.

Pekka Vauramo, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Metso Outotec, said in Helsinki that business demand for their key product -- ore crushing machines -- has now stabilized at around 75-80 percent of normal, following a decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "But strong market growth continues in China," he noted.

"In the minerals and metals markets, decision making related to bigger investment projects continues to be slow and hampered by mobility restrictions," said Vauramo, adding that the company plans to reorganize its metals branch and sell its recycling business.

Metso Outotec was created this year through the merger of Finnish company Outotec and the minerals business of the Finnish Metso Group.

In Q3 2020, the company won a 25-million-euro contract for key grinding circuit equipment from the Zijin Mining Group, operator of the Qulong open-pit mine in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwestern China.

Stephan Kirsch, president of the minerals business at Metso Outotec, said earlier this month that the merger of Metso and Outotec had strengthened the company's presence in China.