In the first half of the business year 2015/16, the performance of the Metal Forming Division was marked by a solid trend in the automobile and storage technology industries. In contrast, demand in the construction and mechanical engineering sectors—with some regional exceptions—was largely subdued.
Demand in the Automotive Body Parts business segment continued to be stable, enabling production capacity to be well utilized. One of the reasons for this was that the rising trend among European premium manufacturers in the increasingly important U.S. sales market largely continued, although there was some differentiation depending on manufacturer and their model policies. Growing sales numbers of compact and sub-compact vehicles on the European markets contributed to the positive situation in the automobile industry.
In the Tubes & Sections business segment, momentum was inconsistent in the individual markets and regions. The European core markets—with the exception of Great Britain—achieved a performance that was merely average. Demand was at a relatively subdued level, not only in Germany and France, but in Central Europe as well. In contrast, both Great Britain and the USA saw incoming orders that continued to be at a robust level. In Brazil, however, demand declined markedly yet again during the current business year, and this development was countered by comprehensive cost-cutting measures in order to keep earnings losses as low as possible. As a result of declining investments by Chinese infrastructure providers, overall, contracts awarded by international customers in China (e.g., construction machinery manufacturers) to the Tubes & Sections business segment were few and far between.
Broken down by sectors, the European construction industry showed practically no upward movement. Because agricultural prices are low worldwide, customers from the agricultural machinery industry demonstrated very cautious order patterns. The situation of the commercial vehicle industry, however, improved somewhat. On the other hand, the trend in the segments of precision tube components for safety-relevant automobile parts and special sections for the aviation industry was quite positive.
In recent months, the Precision Strip business segment faced stubbornly weak demand in China. The European market in this segment was also rather subdued, although the elimination of a competitor’s production capacity resulted in a slight shrinkage of the supply surplus in some sub-areas. The market environment in the USA, however, continues to be positive. In the Warehouse & Rack Solutions business segment, incoming orders remained at a stable and high level so that the outstanding operating results achieved in recent years were maintained.
Investment activity by the Metal Forming Division in the first half of 2015/16 was focused on its growth strategy in the Automotive Body Parts business segment. In Shenyang, China, the seventh production facility for the hot forming of press-hardened steel based on the phs-ultraform technology was commissioned in the fall of 2015. In the first calendar quarter of 2016, a new “phs” line will be put into operation in Cartersville, Georgia, USA. Thus, there will then be a total of eight facilities for the hot forming process of press-hardened steel in operation worldwide by the end of the business year 2015/16. The first pilot facility for the direct “phs” process will also be completed before the end of the business year 2015/16. On July 2, 2015, ground was broken in Linz, Austria, for the second voestalpine Europlatinen GmbH plant for the production of high-quality blanks, which are used in automobile production. The renovation of press line 5 in Bunschoten, Holland was successfully completed toward the end of the first half of 2015/16; in the future, it will also be possible to process aluminum on this line. In the first half of the business year 2015/16, the Metal Forming Division invested a total of EUR 78.4 million (previous year: EUR 88.1 million).
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