OREANDA-NEWS. In 2012, SCM Group invested over USD 3bn in the upgrade of its businesses, local community development projects, health and safety and employee development initiatives. The Group continued investing despite a decline in profits caused by unfavourable conditions in steel and energy markets.

SCM Group's key consolidated financial indicators for FY 2012:

Gross revenue - USD 23,470m (vs USD 19,426m in 2011)

Profit before tax - USD 1,757m (vs USD 3,230m in 2011)

Profit tax payments - USD 506m (vs USD 874m in 2011).

The Group has been preparing its IFRS financial data audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers for nine years in a row. This time the statements have been produced, verified and audited by a record deadline – 26 April 2013.

SCM CEO Oleg Popov stated in his comments: "Despite a challenging environment in our core markets – steel and energy – resulting in the profit fall, we invested more than USD 2.2bn in production upgrade and over USD 800m in social programmes, including more than USD 20m in projects for communities where we are present. There is good reason to put focus on such investments in modernisation: we make a contribution not only to our businesses, but also in the development of communities and even the whole regions. SCM's profit 2012 will again be re-invested in the production upgrade, new business development and social projects. In 2013, we will invest at least USD 1.5bn in the upgrade and at least USD 30m in social initiatives for communities where we operate, even in case of very conservative projections."