Voestalpine reports strong results for nine months

Austrian steel producer Voestalpine has announced strong profit growth for the first nine months ended on December 31, 2006. Net profit rose 41.1 percent year on year to Euro 524.4 million ($688.4 million) in the nine months. The sales revenue of the company increased 9.9 percent to Euro 5.43 billion ($7.01 billion), while earnings before interest and tax rose 31.4 percent to Euro 718.9 million ($943.9 million). At the end of the 2006/07 fiscal year, the company expects its operational profits to increase 30 percent to Euro 950 million ($1.2 billion).