SSAB warns blast furnace repair to hit Q1 earnings

STOCKHOLM - Swedish steelmaker SSAB said on Wednesday that repair work after an unplanned outage at one of its blast furnaces in Raahe, Finland, would last through February with first-quarter earnings taking a 600 million Swedish crown ($65 million) hit.

SSAB, whose shares were down 0.7% by 1154 GMT, said in a statement it would make every effort to minimize the impact for its customers.

"Repair work is expected to last throughout February after which it is expected the blast furnace can be restarted," the company said. "The outage will result in lost production and shipments, as well as repair costs."

($1 = 9.2006 Swedish crowns)