Russia's NLMK says Q4 core earnings up 8 pct y/y

(Updates to add details, quotes)

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Russian steelmaker NLMK said on Thursday its fourth quarter core earnings rose 8 percent year-on-year, with sales across 2018 as a whole hitting an all-time high of 17.6 million tonnes.

Higher sales volumes and prices in 2018 overall drove NLMK's revenue up 20 percent year-on-year, to $12 billion, the company said, keeping it in the top spot among Russian steelmakers in terms of steel output.

However, lower prices for steel products in the company's key markets drove revenues down 4 percent in the fourth quarter, compared to the previous three months, to $3 billion.

Fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $847 million, from $786 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, but were down 17 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

This was due to "the narrowing of steel product/main raw material price spreads", the company said.

The company said it expects steel output to fall next quarter to levels seen in the first quarter of 2018, due to a seasonal drop in demand for long steel and scheduled repairs at its Lipetsk site.

"(First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) quarter) sales are expected to grow year-on-year, with an increase in the share of finished products in the sales portfolio," the company said.

Fourth quarter net profit rose 19 percent year-on-year to $509 million, from $428 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, while revenue rose 7 percent year-on-year to $3.01 billion, the company said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in NLMK were down 1.17 percent as of 0910 GMT.

In October, the company, controlled by billionaire Vladimir Lisin, recommended a third-quarter dividend of 6.04 roubles per share.

(Reporting by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Jan Harvey and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)