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Italy's Prysmian, leading energy and telecom cables and systems manufacturer, reported the first signs of market stabilisation in its third quarter 2009 results, with organic sales decline improved to -16% in Q3 (from -18.3% in H1) and adjusted ebitda margins stable at 10.7% (10.5% in H1). 9-month sales revenues were €2.78bn (compared to €3.95bn a year ago); EMEA region's organic sales (70.2% of total) were down 16% while N.America (9.7% of total) was down 43%. The strategic high voltage power transmission cables sector saw Q2's orders intake recovery confirmed in Q3, with order backlogs through 2010. The company is co-operating with anti-trust investigations into this sector in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, US and Japan.

After initially forecasting a ¥1.1bn operating loss for the fiscal year ending March 2010, Japan's Fujikura Ltd says it now expects its cable and systems business will recover to the break-even point on an operating basis, thanks to a recovery in copper prices. The cable and systems business handles many products whose prices are linked to copper, such as power cables, communications cables and coated wires. Sales volumes this year are expected to be down 20-30% due to weaker capital spending in the private sector. But since the end of March 2009 three-month futures prices for copper on the London Metal Exchange have climbed nearly 60%, and the half year operating loss forecast has now shrunk from ¥1.9bn to ¥800m.

London-listed Kazakhmys PLC, the biggest copper producer in Kazakhstan, reported a better than expected 15% fall in net profit for H1 2009, down to US$516m from US$608m a year ago. Revenues fell 42% to US$1.65bn from US$2.84bn, affected by sharply lower copper prices, and EDITDA earnings were down 49% at US$533m (excluding share from ENRC). Improved production costs helped reduce the impact of lower prices on profitability. Production of copper cathode was up 8% on the previous period at 170kt and full year output is expected to exceed earlier targets of 300kt by as much as 5%. Sales of copper cathode, benefiting from reductions in inventory, were up at 200kt.

International Wire Group announced results for the second quarter ended 30 June 2009. Net sales for the quarter were US$102.0 million, compared to US$199.9 million for the same period in 2008. The decline was due to a lower copper price and decreased volume. Operating income for the second quarter was US$1.3 million compared to US$10.9 million. The lower income was attributed to lower sales volume in all business segments but was partially offset by operating cost reductions and lower selling and administrative expenses. Net loss was US$0.9 million, compared to net income of US$5.6 million.

Furukawa Electric announced that in Q1 of fiscal year 2009 it suffered group net losses of Y3.51 billion (US$37.1 million) compared with profits of Y6.89 billion (US$72.7 million) in the same period of 2008. Revenues in Q1 FY2009 amounted to Y166.74 billion (US$1.76 billion) vs. Y287.04 billion (US$3.03 billion) realised in the same period of 2008. For H1 FY2009, the company is expecting to achieve group revenues of Y376.00 billion (US$3.97 billion) whilst for the full FY2009 Y807.00 billion (US$8.52 billion).

French cable maker Nexans reported a €57m net loss in its first half results for 2009, compared to a €119m net profit in the first six months of 2008, hit by restructuring costs of €53m and a €41m cost relating to copper price. The company said without non-recurring expenses it would have seen a first half net profit. Revenues fell to €2.09bn from €2.42bn and the cable businesses saw an organic decline of 16.4% in the first half, but activity stabilized in the second quarter compared with the first. Operating margin held up at 5.3%, versus 9.1% in the first half of 2008. Furthermore, Nexans is today announcing the signature of an agreement to sell its Copper Rod Mill business in Montreal (Canada). This transaction, for which closing is expected in the third quarter of 2009, is subject to a certain number of conditions and the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities.

Wolverine Tube Inc. remained in the red for the year ended 31 December 2008, but cut its net loss to $48.5m, from last year's loss of $98.2m. Net sales in 2008 fell 19% y-o-y to $816m (from $1bn), primarily due to discontinuance of the manufacture of residential plumbing tube and other products at its Decatur facility in December 2007. Total shipment volumes of 160 million pounds were down 28.2% y-o-y. In 2008 the company established a JV with Wieland-Werke AG through sale of 50% of Wolverine Tube Shanghai, which will focus on growing Asia-Pacific markets and demand for high-performance tubes.

KME Group announced that its copper and copper alloy semis output in Q1 2009 dropped by 28% y-o-y to 113,700t. The company attributed the sharp decline to weak demand due to the current gloomy economic conditions. The product segment that has been worst hit is that of brass rod used in plumbing fixtures. Consolidated sales revenues in Q1 2009 fell by 45% y-o-y to 459 million euros (US$626 million). For the three months to March 2009 KME Group suffered consolidated pre-tax losses of 12.7 million euros compared to profits of 7.5 million euros realised in Q1 2008.

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. has announced its sales results for FY2008. For the year ended 31st March, sales amounted to 2.1 trillion yen (US$22.2 billion), a decrease of 16.5% y-o-y. Operating profit was 23.5 billion yen (US$246.4 million), down by 84.2% y-o-y. Net profit declined by 80.4% y-o-y to 17.2 billion yen (US$180.5 million). For FY2009 Sumitomo Electric anticipates that its consolidated sales revenues will be about 1.7 trillion yen (US$18.6 billion). The company is a major wire and cable producer.

Nexans, the world's largest cable maker, has announced its sales results for Q1 2009. In the three months to March 31, sales amounted to 1.245 billion euros (US$1.61 billion), down by 28.5% compared with the same period in 2008 at constant metal prices. Net debt at the end of Q1 was reduced to 362 million euros (US$468 million) compared to 536 million euros (US$693 million) at the end of Q4 2008. The company said that in response to the economic crisis, it will accelerate restructuring and cut the workforce by 900. Nexans has restructured its business in Canada while it intends to shut down its Building Cable business in Germany. Further plans may be announced mainly in Europe.

Prysmian Cables & Systems said it expects its Chinese sales volumes to increase by 50% by 2010, an increase which has been aided by the opening of the company's fifth production plant in China. The company's sales increased by 16% year-on-year in 2007 and said that further growth opportunities were linked to the development of new infrastructure for energy and communications. Prysmian's new plant will be based in Tianjin and is expected to have an annual capacity of 10,000tpy including special cables for e.g. rail networks, mining and windfarms.

Prysmian S.p.A has announced its sales results for 2008. Sales amounted to Euro 5,144 million, exhibiting a 4.2% y-o-y organic growth. Adjusted EBITDA reached Euro 542 million, with a sales margin of 10.5% compared to 10.3% in 2007. Adjusted net income was Euro 332 million, up by 11% y-o-y. The group achieved strong performance in its utilities business, which grew by 12.1% y-o-y. This is attributed to positive performance of high voltage underground and submarine cables. The trade and installers business contracted by 5% due to the slowdown in the construction industry. Industrial cables exhibited organic growth of 5% mainly because of positive performance in the oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors.

General Cable Corporation has announced its sales results for Q4 2008. In volume terms, sales in Q4 2008 contracted by 6.3% y-o-y. In the same period, operating income decreased by 17.8% y-o-y to US$76.4 million. The company attributed the decline in its operating income to weak demand in developed economies and lower capacity utilisation. Sales to Europe and North Africa contracted by 7.8% y-o-y, particularly due to lower demand and pricing for construction products in Spain, and weakening activity across Europe. In North America sales fell by 6.6% y-o-y, as the company experienced reduced demand for high metal content copper telecommunication and low voltage cables.