The Management Board of voestalpine AG

It was a long road for the voestalpine Group to transform itself from a typical steel company to a technology and industrial goods group. The first steps were taken 15 years ago by beginning to specialize in sophisticated steels and steel products. We shifted away from mass-produced goods and commodities, the production of which did not have a future in the long term in an economic region such as Europe, where overall costs are less and less competitive, population is shrinking, and the social and political arenas are taking an increasingly critical stance toward industry.

Then, more than ten years ago within the scope of the strategy process 2001/02, came the final break with the goals of the steel industry: the departure from the steel industry’s propensity of thinking in terms of tons and the Group’s clear focus on high-tech products in the most advanced industry segments. For product decisions of the future, it was not the volume but the margin that was deemed to be the crucial factor. A new organizational structure was implemented for the Group: the two traditional divisions (steel) “Flat Products” and (steel) “Long Products” were replaced by the Railway Systems, Profilform, Automotive, and Steel Divisions—with the latter being just one of four divisions. The Group’s focus shifted quickly toward the customers and products targeted by the new divisions. With a host of acquisitions, the largest of which was the acquisition of BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM in 2007, the transformation of the company to a technology and industrial goods group became irrevocable reality.

In the consistent continuation of this strategy, the decision was made during the business year 2012/13, which is nearing its end, to again significantly expand the Group’s structure to encompass the Metal Engineering, Metal Forming, Special Steel, and Steel Divisions and to orient the Group even more consistently toward the megatrends of the future during the next ten years with products that are largely at the end of a very long value chain in order to enable a continuation of value-adding growth even in challenging times.

Even today, only around 30% of our Group’s revenue is generated by classic steel products, but they are the best available in this industry and we need them as a foundation upon which to build and maintain our top position in the industrial goods sector. Even more than in the past, this is where the focus of our strategic direction will be in the next ten years. Mobility and energy are the key segments of our strategy—not only in Europe but worldwide.

More information about the strategy of the voestalpine Group will be provided in our Annual Report that will be published on June 5, 2013.

Linz, February 7, 2013

The Management Board