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Financial results announced by voestalpine Group

Published by , Assistant Editor
World Cement,


With the global economic environment being inconsistent during the first nine months of the business year 2016/17, voestalpine Group’s first three quarters were marked by moderate growth trends in Europe, continuing instability with a recent increase in economic expectations in the USA, stable growth in China and a weakening recession in Brazil. According to CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Wolfgang Eder, the voestalpine Group was able to keep results at a stable level despite these complex framework conditions, in part due to its consistent focus on sophisticated product solutions and its accelerated international presence in direct proximity to its customers.

Constant operating result and increase in employees

Slight decline in the financial key performance indicators (adjusted for non-recurring effects) of the voestalpine Group in the first three quarters of 2016/17 compared to the first nine months of the previous year is primarily due to the extremely weak oil and gas sector throughout the entire 2016 calendar year. Against this backdrop, revenue fell by 3.3% from €8.4 to €8.1 billion in a comparison of the nine month figures. Since the operating result (EBITDA) and the profit from operations (EBIT) of the voestalpine Group in the previous year were considerably impacted by positive non-recurring effects, a comparison has limited informative value unless looking at the adjusted figures. On this basis, EBITDA dropped marginally by 0.8% from €1.07 to €1.06 billion in the year-to-year comparison. Conversely, based on the reported figures (i.e. not adjusted for non-recurring effects), EBITDA declined by 12.1% from €1.2 to €1.1 billion. Even more marked was the decline in profit from operations (EBIT) as a result of the depreciation basis increase, especially due to finalising major investment projects. Adjusted for non-recurring effects, EBIT dropped by 8.5% from €608 million to €556 million in the year-to-year comparison. The non-adjusted EBIT went down by 25%, from €727 million to €545 million. The increase in the net financial debt from €3.2 billion recorded on 31 December 2015 to €3.5 billion recorded on 31 December 2016, and thereby also the rise in the gearing ratio from 57% to 61.2% during the same period, is mainly due to the considerable rise in raw material prices. The voestalpine Group’s number of employees rose by 1.8% to 48 765 (FTE) in the year-to-year comparison.

Outlook for the current business year 2016/17 remains unchanged

Due to a stabilisation – at least temporarily – in the raw material prices, a brightening mood, albeit slight, in the oil and gas sector as well as rising prices in the steel contract business at the turn of the year, a considerable increase in earnings compared to the last quarter is expected. “Against this backdrop, the outlook for the entire business year 2016/17 remains unchanged compared to expectations at the end of the first half of the year: The goal is still to achieve an (adjusted) operating result (EBITDA) equal to the level of the last business year of €1.45 billion and an (adjusted) profit from operations (EBIT) close to the level of the last business year of €814 million,” says Eder.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/09022017/financial-results-announced-by-voestalpine-group/

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