Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG has announced its financial results for the first half ended September 30 of the fiscal year 2014-15.
Accordingly, voestalpine's net profit in the first half increased to €324 million, up 35.9 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The revenues of the company decreased by 1.5 percent to €5.56 billion year on year, as a result of the closure of standard rail production in Duisburg as of the end of 2013, causing a decrease in delivery volumes, and a weaker price level in a series of business segments, due to continued falling raw material and pre-material costs.
In the given quarter, the company's EBITDA was €756.9 million, increasing by 11.2 percent year on year, which is equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 13.6 percent, up from 12.1 percent in the same period of the previous year.
According to voestalpine's statement, even though the economic framework conditions in Europe have not improved as had been hoped at the beginning of the year, it can be anticipated that all four of the company's divisions will enjoy practically full capacity utilization in the second half of the financial year 2014-15. Despite continued strong price pressure, efficiency improvements and cost optimization programs, and the accelerated development of markets outside Europe, should make it feasible to at least slightly improve profitability compared to the previous year, even without taking extraordinary income into account.