The transnational's operating income was slightly higher at $91 million, compared with $86 million for the third quarter of 1997. Consolidated shipments in the last three months was three million tonne, compared with 1.7 million tonne in the third quarter of last year.

The LNM (Lakshmi Narayan Mittal) group company earned a net income of $48 million in the third quarter of 1998, compared with $64 million last year. A company statement attributed the decline in income to $21 million of "non-recurring and non-cash items," which "negatively impacted" the cost of goods sold during the third quarter, which again was a fallout of "purchase accounting adjustments at Ispat Inland Inc."

Ispat International's net income was slightly higher last year, because it wrote off some "deferred assets" at Imexsa, whichresulted in $19 million of "non-recurring and non-cash charge." For the first nine months of this year, the company's consolidated normalised net income was $238 million or $1.92 per share, compared with $168 million or $1.43 per share for the previous corresponding period.

The company's operating income for the first nine months was $351 million compared with $227 million during the same period last year. The consolidated shipments for the first nine months this year was 7.5 million tonne, compared with 5.1 million tonne in the previous corresponding period.