(Reuters) – Italian steel pipe maker Tenaris has warned that a tariff hike by U.S. President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum will create a “high level of uncertainty” for costs and prices in the second half of the year.
Trump stunned markets by announcing tariffs of 25% on all steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. from next month, leaving industries that rely on such supplies scrambling to offset an expected jump in costs.
“Likely changes in US tariffs and their possible ramifications on trade flows will introduce a new dynamic with a high level of uncertainty for costs and prices to our results,” Luxembourg-based Tenaris said.
It added in a statement late on Wednesday that it expected its first-quarter revenue and core earnings (excluding extraordinary items) to be in line with the previous quarter, before rising moderately in the second quarter of 2025.
Despite the warning by Tenaris, brokerage JPMorgan said it did not expect implementation of the tariffs to negatively impact Tenaris’ financial results.
“In fact, (it) would likely lead to an increase in U.S. OCTG (Oil Country Tubular Goods) pricing,” it added in a note, saying the rising prices would offset the higher cost for raw materials.
Tenaris also named Carlos Gomez Alzaga as its new chief financial officer, succeeding the retiring Alicia Mondolo effective May 2.
The exploration pipeline maker reported a 17% drop in net sales to $2.85 billion for the fourth quarter, although above its previous guidance due to inventory reductions and advanced shipments to the Middle East and Turkey.
Its EBITDA margin for the last quarter of 2024 stood at 25.5%, below the 28.6% recorded in the same period the year before.
Tenaris also proposed an overall dividend per share of $0.83 for 2024, including the interim dividend of $0.27 paid in November.
(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru and Enrico Sciacovelli in Gdansk; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Helen Popper)
