Kortrijk, Belgium-based Bekaert, one of the world's largest steel cord and wire manufacturers, has announced that in 2018 it achieved consolidated sales of €4.3 billion, rising by 8.9 percent year on year. In the same year, Bekaert reported a net profit of €2.79 million compared to €182.5 million in 2017.
In the given year, the company’s EBITDA went down by 14.2 percent to €426 million, while its EBITDA margin declined to 9.9 percent from 12.1 percent, both compared to 2017.
As for the 2019 outlook, Bekaert stated that it anticipates that increased economic and political uncertainty will restrict growth in most parts of the world this year. It underlined the need for being particularly cautious about the uncertainty that may be caused by Brexit in the international markets and in the further developments of trade tensions globally.