Outokumpu's quarterly earnings beat expectations

HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland's Outokumpu on Thursday posted stronger-than-expected core earnings for the second quarter despite a slight decrease in sales volumes as steel prices rose following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The market environment has been exceptionally favourable, but we have now started to see softening especially on the commodity business," Chief Executive Heikki Malinen said in a statement.

Stainless steel deliveries decreased by 4% year on year to 603,000 tonnes, below a mean estimate of 643,000 tonnes.

For the ongoing third quarter Outokumpu expects stainless steel deliveries to fall by 10-20% compared to the second quarter and adjusted core earnings to decrease.

The steel maker's April-June adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ( EBITDA) more than doubled to 547 million euros ($555.86 million), above analysts' mean estimate of 443 million in a company-provided poll.

($1 = 0.9841 euros)

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)