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LINZ. In contrast to the first quarter, the second quarter brought another improvement for voestalpine. The semi-annual result is still negative. In the area of flat steel, however, there is again full capacity utilization at Linz.
“We can look back on an eventful semester,” sums up Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG. In April there was a sharp drop in demand in all sectors and regions due to the Corona crisis. “On the other hand, the strong economic recovery that we saw in some areas in the second quarter was very positive. In particular, the automotive industry, which is important to us, showed a good recovery ”. The situation in the aviation and oil and gas segments, which are particularly affected by the consequences of the pandemic, remained difficult. The technology segments, rail infrastructure and storage systems continued to develop steadily in this challenging environment. “We have very good incoming orders there.”
Positive operating result
Overall, the voestalpine Group’s sales and earnings in the first half of 2020/21 were significantly below the prior year comparative values, with sales falling 21.9 percent from 6.5 to 5.1 billion euros. On the results side, despite extremely difficult market conditions, voestalpine was able to generate a clearly positive operating result (EBITDA) of 395 million euros in the first half of the year, which still means a decrease of -40, 6 percent. “The drop was mainly in the first quarter,” said Chief Financial Officer Robert Ottel.
Negative earnings after taxes
The decrease in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was much stronger and, in addition to the purely operational development, is mainly due to the special depreciation in voestalpine Texas and voestalpine Tubulars (around EUR 200 million) due to changes in the global market, exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic. In total, EBIT fell from 230 million euros in the first half of 2019/20 to -215 million euros today. The result after taxes went from 115 to -276 million euros compared to the previous year.
Total utilization in Linz
After the end of the reporting period, there was a marked increase in the number of Covid-19 infections in many regions of the world. In Europe, many EU member states reacted again with “lockdown” measures of varying degrees. “The uncertainty in the forecast has now increased significantly again,” Eibensteiner said. However: “We have planned full capacity utilization at our Linz plant over the next few months in the flat steel area.” The number of people with short-term jobs has also decreased. “Austria now has around 2,000 part-time employees,” especially in the areas of aviation and oil and gas in Styria. In the first quarter it was around 10,000.
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