The Metal Engineering Division was the only division that was able to increase its revenue in the first nine months of 2012/13 compared to the previous year. This is primarily the result of an expansion of business in the railway infrastructure customer segment. The overall price level, however, trended slightly downward. Overall, revenue increased marginally compared to the previous year by 0.5% from EUR 2,228.5 million to EUR 2,239.2 million. In the first three quarters of 2012/13, the operating result (EBITDA) was only slightly below that of the previous year and therefore very satisfactory; at EUR 310.4 million (EBITDA margin 13.9%), it was 3.0% below the previous year’s figure of EUR 320.1 million (EBITDA margin 14.4%). Profit from operations (EBIT) fell by 4.1% to EUR 225.5 million (previous year EUR 235.2 million). This means that the EBIT margin of 10.1% is still in the double digits (10.6% in the business year 2011/12).
An uneven picture emerges in the quarterly comparison. While it was not possible in the quarter under review to match the high delivery volumes of rails in the preceding quarter and sales of wire lagged due to the economic situation, delivery volumes of seamless tubes went up substantially. In the third quarter of 2012/13, the average prices across all product groups—with the exception of seamless tubes—were below the prices recorded in the second quarter, and prematerial costs were also lower. As a result, revenue declined by 6.3% from EUR 740.3 million to EUR 693.3 million. The operating result (EBITDA), on the other hand, rose by 9.5% from EUR 95.0 million to EUR 104.0 million, thus also raising the EBITDA margin from 12.8% to 15.0%. Profit from operations (EBIT) increased by a similar range (10.9%), going from EUR 67.2 million to EUR 74.5 million. Therefore, the EBIT margin in the third quarter of 2012/13 was 10.7% (second quarter: 9.1%).
As of December 31, 2012, the Metal Engineering Division had 11,137 employees (FTE). In comparison to December 31, 2011 (11,080 employees), this was an increase of 0.5% or 57 employees.