In spite of having posted bigger-than-anticipated loss in the first quarter, the Luxembourg-based world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal has forecast recovery from the dire straits that the company is currently in!

For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, ArcelorMittal reported a $1.1 billion net loss; with its $883 million earnings marking a substantial 80 percent plunge from the year-earlier $5 billion. The year-over-year first quarter sales also fell to $15.1 billion from $29.8 billion largely because of a weakened steel demand from the recession-hit car and construction industries. 

However, despite the drab figures, the Lakshmi Mittal-led steel group intends accelerating a debt reduction program by raising $3 billion from the sale of shares and bonds; of which $2.5 billion will come from a stock offering and $500 million from the sale of 2014-due convertible notes.

In an e-mailed statement, ArcelorMittal said that nearly 10 percent of the share offering will be subscribed to by the Mittal family.

Saying that the ArcelorMittal’s core profit in the second quarter would recover to almost $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, and prices could potentially rise in the next couple of quarters, the company’s Chairman, Lakshmi Mittal - one of the world’s richest men - said: “Although market conditions remain challenging a technical recovery is inevitable.”