German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp has announced its financial results for the financial year 2019-20 ended on September 30.
In the given financial year, the company achieved a net profit of €9.6 billion, including the gain from the sale of its elevator business of around €15 billion, compared to a net loss of €260 million in the previous financial year, while sales revenues decreased by 15 percent year on year to €28.9 billion. Meanwhile, the company’s order intake amounted to €28.2 billion, down 17 percent year on year. Thanks to the stabilization of business in the fourth quarter and strict measures to secure liquidity and reduce costs, the revised earnings forecast made in August, from €1.7 billion to €1.9 billion, was slightly exceeded.
According to Thyssenkrupp, in parallel with the immediate coronavirus measures, Thyssenkrupp made further progress with the transformation of the company in the past fiscal year. The elevator business was successfully sold, significantly strengthening the company’s balance sheet. In May 2019, the company announced a reduction of 6,000 jobs over three years necessary for the transformation of the group. As a result of the restructurings begun and implemented in the past year, around 3,600 jobs have already been cut. To ease the impact of the coronavirus crisis on its businesses, the company currently sees the need for a further reduction of altogether 11,000 jobs. These additional 7,400 jobs are to be reduced over the next three years. Meanwhile, the company stated that it may close its struggling heavy plate mill as there are no buyers.
Despite the still expected recovery of important markets and the visible structural improvement of the businesses, Thyssenkrupp takes an overall cautious view of the current fiscal year 2020-21. Thyssenkrupp expects a net loss of over €1 billion in the given financial year.
“The coronavirus pandemic is a massive stress test for Thyssenkrupp. Our top priority remains the protection of our employees and our businesses. Despite the headwind, we have achieved important milestones in the transformation of the group. In particular, our strengthened balance sheet gives us the flexibility to systematically implement further necessary steps in our plan for the future of Thyssenkrupp. But we’re not yet where we need to be. The next steps could be more painful than the previous ones. But we will have to take them,” said Martina Merz, chief executive officer of Thyssenkrupp AG.