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AMSA’s huge loss follows on a profit of R1,37b (about $951m) in 2018.
AMSA had announced plans for a large-scale reorganisation of its plants across the country six months ago,
The company had said in November 2019 that it would close down its loss-making Saldanha Works due to various factors, including a global downturn in the steel market and a reduction of the plant’s export edge due to high costs of electricity, rail transport and price regulation.
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AMSA, however, said any closure of significant long-steel production plants was not on the cards in the foreseeable future, including the Newcastle plant which too had been under threat.
Born out of the former state-owned steel manufacturer Iscor in 1989 after Mittal had helped turn around its ailing fortunes, AMSA said in a statement here that 2019 had been a very challenging year for the company.
AMSA said it would be placing an emphasis on cash preservation as it aimed at long-term preservation.
“A large-scale employee reorganisation, as announced on SENS on July 10 last year, has been largely finalised and resulted in a reduction of over a thousand own employees. Additionally, a significant repricing and rescoping of sub-contractor services will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020,” it said.