Arcelor Mittal will be the world's biggest steel company

Reporting their last results before they merge, Mittal saw net profits for the April to June period rise to $1.09bn (�533m) from $1.02bn last year.

Net profits at Arcelor fell to 653m euros ($837m; �446m) compared with 1bn euros for the same period in 2005.

Dutch-based Mittal last month acquired the remaining Arcelor shares it needed to complete the takeover.

Mittal had been trying to buy Luxembourg-based Arcelor since the start of this year.

Costly takeover battle

Arcelor said its results were hit by higher raw material costs and the expense of trying to fight off Mittal's approach, which it initially rejected.

It said it spent 182m euros trying to prevent Mittal's takeover, before eventually accepting its rival's third, higher offer of 25.8bn euros in June.

Arcelor also had to pay 140m euros to the Russian steel firm Severstal after it ditched a merger with the company in favour of going with Mittal.

The combined group will have the name Arcelor Mittal.

Arcelor Mittal will have 320,000 employees and produce about 116 million tonnes of steel per year, about 10% of world production.

The results from Arcelor and Mittal came after a Brazilian judge said Mittal must make an offer to buy out shareholders of a Brazilian division of Arcelor.