Development of the key figures

Against the backdrop of a very difficult economic environment across broad stretches of the year marked by huge declines in both sales volume and prices, the division’s revenue and operating result figures were substantially lower than those of the previous year.

Revenue fell by 28.4% from EUR 4,328.5 million to EUR 3,098.7 million. EBITDA went down by 42.4% from EUR 735.5 million to EUR 423.3 million, and EBIT declined by 61.4% from EUR 522.3 million to EUR 201.4 million. The EBITDA margin reached 13.7% in the business year 2009/10 (previous year: 17.0%), while the EBIT margin was at 6.5% (previous year: 12.1%).

It should be emphasized in this regard that the Steel Division’s specific positioning against the competition as a niche player in the top quality segment has become particularly apparent during the crisis.

The development of revenue and operating result during the individual quarters demonstrates the success of the crisis management measures that were implemented quickly and consistently. Although revenue remained almost identical during the first three quarters of 2009/10, gains in the operating result were disproportionately high. The result of the last quarter was also affected by the shutdown of one of the two small blast furnaces due to a major scheduled repair.

The Steel Division had 9,510 employees at the end of business year 2009/10. Compared to March 31, 2009, (10,034) this corresponds to a reduction by 5.2%, resulting from measures taken to adjust capacity due to the economic crisis.