PROFIT OF VÍTKOVICE STEEL FOR THE THREE QUARTERS OF THIS YEAR IS MORE THAN 2 BILLION CZK!

For the first three quarters of this year VÍTKOVICE STEEL generated profit before tax of 2 189 625 thousand CZK. When compared with the same period last year with the pre-tax profit of 790 835 thousand CZK, this year the profit increased by 176%. At the end of the year the company management forecasts a pre-tax profit of 2.5 billion CZK.

Also sales from own products of this steel company are very good - for the first three quarters of this year the sales increased by 22.4% compared with the last year, i.e., to 11 424 176 thousand crowns.

The success and development of VÍTKOVICE STEEL is evidenced also by an increase in value added which increased almost by 100 %, i.e., from 1 484 116 thousand CZK for the first nine months last year to 2 952 926 thousand CZK for the same period this year. Production and sale of steel, plates, sections and cut shapes was ensured by 1 603 employees, which is less by 46 employees than in the same period of 2004.

VÍTKOVICE STEEL, with 99 % share on the basic capital owned by Osinek since 2002, was the last Czech government owned company. On Wednesday July 13, 2005, the Czech government decided to sell the 99 % share in VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s., to a Russian group Evraz, which offered 7.05 billion crowns. This company promised to invest another 2.5 billion to the development of the company and 800 million to the development of the region. Today the privatization of the company was finally completed. On the basis of fulfillment of the agreements and payment of the purchase price, OSINEK, a. s., which is a hundred percent subsidiary of the National Property Fund, transferred 145 shares of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. to MASTERCROFT Ltd. from the Russian mining and steel group. VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s., currently has 1600 employees; 1200 employees work in the key operations – some 400 in the steel shop, 800 in the rolling mills. The company produces steel and steel products (heavy plates, heavy and medium sections, and cut shapes). In the heavy plate area the company is one of the leading European producers and in the Czech Republic the company is the dominant producer of these plates. The company produces also sheet piles. VÍTKOVICE STEEL is an exclusive producer of sheet piles on the domestic market, part of the production is exported.