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voestalpine Announces Results for First Half Year 2010/11

11/19/2010 - voestalpine Group reported that its EBIT increased almost tenfold in the first half of the business year 2010/11, up to 414.2 million EUR compared to 42.7 million EUR in the same period last year. Net income was 249.7 million EUR.

voestalpine Group reported that its EBIT increased almost tenfold in the first half of the business year 2010/11, up to 414.2 million EUR compared to 42.7 million EUR in the same period last year. Net income was 249.7 million EUR.
 
Revenue increased by 24.2% from 4.18 billion EUR to 5.19 billion EUR. The number of permanent staff was slightly downsized to under 39,900, but the group was able to reduce its gearing ratio from 90% to 66%.
 
The increase in revenue and operating results can be seen both at the group level and in all five divisions, with full utilization of the crude steel production capacity in the Steel and Railway Systems divisions, and the Special Steel, Profilform, and Automotive divisions operating at almost full capacity. voestalpine expects this trend to continue in the coming months due to an overall positive development in most of the main markets.
 
In contrast to ongoing positive developments in the large economies in Asia, parts of Europe, and Brazil, the situation in the U.S. remains critical, according to voestalpine. The areas of automotive engineering, machine building, consumer goods, renewable energy, and the exploration of oil and gas are experiencing recovery, but the outlook for the construction and building sector is less favorable due to the effects of cuts in public spending in many countries, the company notes.
 
“As dramatically as the broadly-based economic reversal began two years ago in the fall of 2008, so swiftly and unexpectedly did the recovery start in the summer of 2009 at least for the industry,” said Dr. Wolfgang Eder, CEO of voestalpine AG. “For the near future, we should be satisfied with growth that is not quite so dynamic, but modest and sustainable. “
 
Eder defined three major projects for the voestalpine Group for the upcoming months. Under the headline “Doing our homework consistently,” the CEO announced the completion of the structural modernization in the divisions Steel and Special Steel, an accelerated orientation of the group toward products and markets for the coming decades, and the realization of the major part of the cost-cutting and efficiency improvement programs with the objective of achieving an optimization of EUR 600 million by 2012.
 
The company states that a doubling of last year’s profit from operations (EBIT) of EUR 352 million for the business year 2010/11 appears to be assured.