Development in the Steel Division as well as in the other strongly downstream oriented divisions was stable despite a difficult market environment, with revenue and earnings staying at the level of the previous year. The relatively largest revenue plus was achieved by the Automotive Division (part of the Metal Forming Division since March 31, 2012) with growth of 17.7%. The main reason for its growth, which is gratifying for the voestalpine Group, is uninterrupted demand from the premium automobile manufacturers. At the same time, growth in this segment continues to shift increasingly to regions outside of Europe. Revenue rose from EUR 1,040 million to EUR 1,225 million. The Profilform Division (also part of the Metal Forming Division since March 31st 2012) also increased both revenue and operating results. Revenue growth of just over 10% was the result of higher volumes on the one hand, especially in the Precision Strip business segment, and a rise in the average level of earnings on the other. The Tubes and Sections as well as Storage Technology segments were characterized by ongoing solid levels of demand.
The Special Steel Division also achieved significant growth in revenue and operating results, almost reaching its pre-crisis level. Revenue rose by 11.9% over the previous year, from EUR 2,631 million to EUR 2,945 million. Improvement in EBIT was even more striking, climbing by almost one third from EUR 209 million to EUR 273 million. This trend in the operating result was enabled primarily by the expansion of divisional capacity, thus making greater production and delivery volumes possible.
It was particularly the high levels of demand for premium qualities in the railway infrastructure segment that resulted in revenue growth of 8.5%, going from EUR 2,723 million to EUR 2,956 million for the Metal Engineering Division (until March 31, 2012 Railway Systems Division).
On the other hand, the situation in the standard rail segment was completely different. Due to stable demand at a high level from the oil gas sector and a good volume of incoming orders for industrial tubes for the commercial vehicle and automobile industries, the Seamless Tubes segment reported full capacity utilization. Order volumes in the Wire and Welding Technology business segments were also at a level that was high and consistently stable.
Even though the Steel Division was operating in an exceptionally difficult market environment, it achieved a significant rise in revenue of 7.6%. The strongly volatile development of its results was due to fears surrounding the economy and structural overcapacity in Europe.
Source - The voestalpine Group
(www.steelguru.com)
