Financial key performance indicators

Low demand from the oil and natural gas industries in the business year 2015/16 resulted largely in a reduction of the division’s delivery volume. Premium steel, however, was the exception, with deliveries increasing. At the same time, passing on declining costs for alloy metals to customers resulted in falling prices, although the weaker euro vis-à-vis the US dollar had positive revenue and earnings effects for deliveries to US dollar regions. Nevertheless, revenue fell by 4.6% overall from EUR 2,777.4 million in 2014/15 to EUR 2,650.9 million in 2015/16. The declining raw materials prices affected not only the price level but also required value adjustments of inventory that had commensurate negative effects on earnings. The continuation of comprehensive cost optimization programs compensated this trend in part, however, the operating result (EBITDA) dropped by 10.5% from EUR 406.9 million to EUR 364.1 million. As a result, at 13.7%, the EBITDA margin in the business year 2015/16 was also lower than the previous year’s figure of 14.6%. In the same time period, EBIT fell by 10.4% from EUR 253.6 million to EUR 227.2 million, while the EBIT margin went down from 9.1% to 8.6%.

A direct quarter-to-quarter comparison between the third and the fourth quarter of 2015/16 showed a significant increase of the key figures, primarily a result of seasonal effects. Overall, revenue increased due to a higher delivery volume in the fourth quarter by 8.1% from EUR 616.0 million to EUR 666.1 million. Concurrently, EBITDA rose by 41.2% from EUR 73.8 million (margin: 12.0%) to EUR 104.2 million (margin: 15.6%). EBIT escalated sharply by 70.4%, going from EUR 40.5 million in the third quarter of 2015/16 to EUR 69.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2015/16, with the EBIT margin increasing in a direct quarter-to-quarter comparison from 6.6% to 10.4%.

As of March 31, 2016, the Special Steel Division had 13,470 employees (FTE). This is 0.2% less than on the previous year’s reporting date (13,490 FTE), although the division made acquisitions in the business year 2015/16.