Rating agency Standard & Poor's has announced that Vallourec, a France based producer of premium seamless steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, benefits from high profitability and strong market position, in our view. The company's major expansion in Brazil and the US should boost its EBITDA from 2013.

S&P said that "Vallourec has demonstrated a conservative financial policy, funding large investments while keeping net debt low to moderate. We are assigning our 'BBB+/A-2' long and short term corporate credit ratings to the company. The stable outlook reflects our opinion that Vallourec will maintain its conservative financial policy and supportive liquidity."

It added that the ratings reflect our view of Vallourec's business risk profile at the high end of the satisfactory category and its financial risk profile as modest.