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ThyssenKrupp Profit Falls as Slowdown Cuts Demand
02/12/2013 - ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, said profit slumped 38 percent in the fiscal first quarter as the global economic slowdown eroded demand, Bloomberg reports.
ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, said profit slumped 38 percent in the fiscal first quarter as the global economic slowdown eroded demand.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes fell to €229 million (US$307 million) in the three months through December from €372 million a year earlier, the Essen-based company said in a statement. That beat the €211.8 million average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales dropped 7.9% to €8.84 billion.
Dwindling demand for steel from the auto and construction industries in Europe and competition from China have pushed down prices and squeezed producers’ profit margins as they grapple with surplus capacity. ArcelorMittal, the biggest steelmaker, last week posted the lowest quarterly profit in three years.
ThyssenKrupp “cannot be satisfied with the group’s current earning power,” chief executive officer Heinrich Hiesinger said in the statement. The shares dropped as much as 2.2% to €17.36 in Frankfurt trading, and were at €17.58 as of 10:28 a.m. local time.
The company is selling its Steel Americas division as it cuts the number of business units to five from eight and expands non-steel operations. Steel Americas, labeled a discontinued operation, reported an adjusted loss before interest and taxes of €87 million, compared with a loss of €288 million a year earlier, according to Kilian Roetzer, a spokesman...
