Pablo Brizzio
Analyst · the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our press release issued yesterday.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Brizzio
Thanks, Sebastián. Good morning to everybody and thanks for participating in this call. Let me first describe our performance during the quarter, and then we will go to the Q&A session.
EBITDA during the first quarter 2015 was $313 million, a 4% sequential increase, mainly reflecting a 3% increase in shipments. EBITDA margin increased slightly to 14.7% in the first quarter 2015, mainly as a result of $47 lower steel operating costs per ton, partially offset by $40 lower steel revenue per ton.
Net sales were $2.1 billion in the first quarter, just 1% sequential decrease, as I mentioned, decrease in revenue per ton was mostly offset by the increase in shipments, which reached over 2.4 million tons in the quarter.
In Mexico, shipments were 1.5 million tons, 8% higher sequentially and 9% higher than in the first quarter last year. As I commented in previous call, Mexican consumption of steel has been growing, mainly as a result of a healthy demand from consumers in the manufacturing industry.
Despite a strong underlying demand, we may experience slight softening in shipments in this market in the second quarter 2015 due to destocking trend in the value chain.
Steel revenue per ton in Mexico was 5% lower sequentially. And steel prices in the U.S. and Mexico began to trend downward during the fourth quarter 2014, as they continue to decline throughout the first quarter and during April due to the high level of steel imports in to the U.S. market and the destocking process in the value chain.
In addition, as close to half of our sales in Mexico are under contracts, and this caused a lot of our quarter in our revenue line to reflect the changes in the steel market prices in the first quarter of 2015, did not draw the important price decrease that occurred in the last month in this region. We expect as a result to report in the second quarter a new reduction of revenue per ton in the Mexican segment, even though we have recently seen signs that prices maybe reaching a bottom in this market.
Shipments in the southern region decreased 3% sequentially in the first quarter 2015, mainly due to lower seasonal demand in Argentina and we believe they will recover to the previous levels during the second quarter 2015. Realized price in the southern region also saw a 3% sequential decrease in this quarter, and we expect them to also have a downward trend in the coming quarter.
Consolidated EBITDA per ton of steel increased 1% sequentially in the first quarter 2015 to $129 as both operating cost and revenue per ton had been trending down. As I explained before, mainly reflecting lower steel prices in our main steel market, a lower cost from -- for purchased steel -- excuse me, for purchased slab, raw materials and energy. Prices were at lower, but slab, scrap and energy continue to decrease during the first quarter 2015. Although this cost benefiting trend will not be entirely reflected in our cost sales in the second quarter 2015 due to the gradual pass-through of these inputs to costs, as Ternium consumes its inventories over time.
Consequently, during the second quarter of the year, we expect the lower operating margin compared to the operating margin in the first quarter as we expect a decrease in revenue per ton will not be offset by a margin decrease in cost per ton. In addition, we expect that shipment across all our market will remain relatively stable in the second quarter 2015 as a decrease in Mexico will be offset by a recovery in Argentina.
Equity in results of nonconsolidated companies was a loss of $133 million in the first quarter of the year. The results included a $110 million loss related to an impairment of Ternium's investments in Usiminas. Led by the expectation of lower prices of steel and iron ore, a weaker steel demand in Brazil, a weaker Brazilian real to U.S. dollar exchange rate, a lower operating margin and a higher discount rate compared to our previous value use estimation for our Usiminas investment.
Let me comment about the pending issue that we have with the SEC staff that we have mentioned in our press release yesterday regarding our investment in Usiminas. The SEC staff issued comment as part of its regular reviews of our filing, regarding the current value of Ternium's investment in Usiminas, including a second explanation on Ternium's value use calculation under the difference between values used and certain fair values indicators. We provided additional information to the staff supporting the company's accounting treatment of the Usiminas investment and the IFRS as of September 30, 2014, and we have further discussed with the members of the staff which continue as of today.
In the conclusion of this process, it is that an additional impairment of investment in Usiminas should be recorded in 2014, we could be required to restate our 2014 financial statements to adjust the current value of Usiminas to a lower level.
Income tax in the first quarter 2015 was $88 million compared to $112 million in the previous quarter. The income tax penalties in the first quarter 2015 include deferred tax expenses related to a withholding tax on dividend distributions in Argentina in connection with the Siderar's increased reserve for future dividend and cash dividend payout.
As you recollect, Siderar has paid dividend just a couple of weeks ago.
Additional to that, there is a noncash effect on deferred tax related to the depreciation of Mexican peso and the Colombian peso against the U.S. dollar during the period. And the impact of nontaxable loss seen from the impairment of the investment in Usiminas.
So net result decreased $82 million sequentially in the first quarter to a loss of $22 million, mainly as a result of the mentioned loss related to our investment in Usiminas, partially offset by a lower income tax expense, and of course the mentioned better operating income we showed during the quarter.
Turning now to the cash flow statement. I'm glad to report that free cash flow reached $240 million in the first quarter of 2015 and net debt decreased to $1.5 billion from $1.8 billion as of the end of the fourth quarter last year. Our financial position continues to be strong, with a net debt to last 12 months EBITDA ratio of 1.1x.
Net cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter was $324 million, included a $70 million lower working capital.
Capital expenditure were $84 million, down from $109 million in the previous quarter and from $104 million in the same period last year.
Important to mention that if the general shareholder meeting that will take place next week approved the proposal for director [ph] on paying dividends. Ternium will be paying in a couple of weeks a dividend of $0.90 per ADS, coming from $0.75 last year, which is a 20% increase. And with 3% -- a 39% payout ratio and around 5% dividend yield.
So with this, that are my main issues I wanted to comment on. And now, please, let's go to the Q&A session. Thanks.