Financial key performance indicators

At EUR 709.0 million, in the first quarter of the business year 2015/16, revenue in the Special Steel Division was 4.9% above the previous year’s figure of EUR 675.9 million. Sales volumes were significantly increased particularly in the segments of tool steel and special materials for the aviation industry, while declining orders in the oil and natural gas sectors have not manifested themselves markedly thus far in the revenue being generated. At EUR 100.0 million, the operating result (EBITDA) exceeded the figure in the same period of the previous year (EUR 96.1 million) by 4.1%, while the EBITDA margin of 14.1% was marginally below last year’s figure (14.2%). The most important factor for the earnings increase in absolute figures was the good performance of the Value-Added Services business segment. Profit from operations (EBIT) in the first quarter of 2015/16 rose concurrently from EUR 61.3 million in the previous year to EUR 65.3 million, an improvement of 6.5%; the EBIT margin went up slightly from 9.1% to 9.2%.

As of June 30, 2015, the Special Steel Division had 13,411 employees (FTE). The increase by 453 employees (+3.5%) as of the end of the first quarter of 2015/16 was primarily due to efforts to be able to meet the demands of the positive market environment.