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economy
The coronavirus crisis hit the voestalpine steel group hard in the first half of the 2020/21 financial year. The end result is a net loss of 276 million euros. In the same period of the previous year, a profit of 115 million euros had been obtained.
Sales this year fell between April and September by 21.9 percent to 5.1 billion euros, as the group announced Tuesday morning. The workforce was notably reduced by 6.5 percent to 47,917 employees worldwide.
“First signs of relaxation”
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) deteriorated significantly from 666 million euros to 395 million euros in the same period of the previous year. The operating result (EBIT) went negative from more than 230 million euros to less than 215 million euros. The reason for this are special depreciation and economic development.
According to the information, the first signs of relaxation appear. The first quarter was characterized by a huge drop in demand in almost all customer segments and regions, but in the second quarter there was a notable recovery in key industries.
“Cost reduction programs have entered into force”
“The clearly positive EBITDA operating result and the increase in cash flow show that our consistent cost reduction and efficiency improvement programs have come into effect,” said CEO Herbert Eibensteiner. At the same time, this result reflects “the recovery in demand in key customer segments during the second quarter.” “However, despite the positive signals from the market, it remains to be seen how the new lockdown measures in Europe will affect the economy.”
“Positive demand trend”
With the exception of the oil and gas sector and the aviation industry, the positive trend in demand for voestalpine Group products in all major market segments should continue in the second half of 2020/21, according to management. “Therefore, assuming there are no further significant economic constraints from the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the officially prescribed measures in this context, the Executive Board currently expects EBITDA in a range of EUR 800 million to one billion for the full year. financial 2020/21 “so Eibensteiner.
