Moody's lifts Metso from junk

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the senior unsecured and long-term issuer ratings of Metso Corp. to Baa3 from Ba1 and assigned a stable outlook.

The agency said the upgrade reflects Metso's improved financial and operational performance as evidenced by the effective achievement of the company's own targeted operating margins for Metso Paper of 6%, Metso Minerals of 10% and for the consolidated group of 7%; the significant debt reduction, primarily through disposals, reducing net debt as adjusted by Moody's to €800 million by end of 2005 from €1.536 billion at the end of 2003 and a significant improvement of its debt coverage ratio (pre-working capital retained cash flow to net debt) to 39.8% in 2005 from 7% in 2003, mainly driven by strong and sustainable operating cash flow generation and despite increased dividend levels.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.