Financial key performance indicators*

The revenue generated by the Metal Forming Division in the first three quarters of 2015/16 fell in a year-to-year comparison by 5.3%, going from EUR 1,742.4 million to EUR 1,649.8 million. The decrease is primarily due to divestments undertaken in the previous year (Flamco Group, plastics companies, Rotec AB). Furthermore, as a result of falling pre-material costs throughout the current business year, the general level of prices has been below that of the previous year. The excellent market environment for automobiles and the continued expansion of internationalization activities has had a positive effect on revenue. As far as earnings are concerned, at first glance, they appear to have declined if non-recurring effects in the previous year resulting from proceeds from divestments are excluded (EUR 66.5 million reported in EBITDA and EUR 45.2 million reported in EBIT), however, both the operating result (EBITDA) and profit from operations (EBIT) increased in a year-over-year comparison. Non-adjusted EBITDA dropped by 20.7% from EUR 259.3 million to EUR 205.5 million, and adjusted EBIT went down by 19.8% from EUR 167.6 million to EUR 134.4 million. Adjusted for non-recurring effects, in the first three quarters of the previous year, EBITDA was EUR 192.8 million; thus, there is an increase of 6.6% when comparing adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted for non-recurring effects, EBIT in the previous year was EUR 122.4 million; compared with EUR 134.4 million in the last nine months, this means a rise of 9.8%. The EBITDA margin adjusted for non-recurring effects improved significantly—not least due to the structural reforms implemented in the previous year—from 11.1% to 12.5%, while the adjusted EBIT margin also went up markedly from 7.0% to 8.1%.

The direct comparison of the third quarter of 2015/16 with the immediately preceding quarter shows that the revenue trend has been stable. A slight decline in the Tubes & Sections business segment in the third quarter of 2015/16 was compensated by revenue growth in the Automotive Body Parts business segment; overall, revenue rose in the third quarter compared to the immediately preceding quarter by 0.5%, going from EUR 540.9 million to EUR 543.4 million. In a comparison with the immediately preceding quarter, earnings in the third quarter—taking the customary seasonal effects into consideration—showed a solid performance: EBITDA went down by a very moderate decrease of 2.6% from EUR 69.0 million (margin: 12,8%) to EUR 67.2 million (margin: 12.4%), and EBIT fell by 5.5% from EUR 45.4 million to EUR 42.9 million. For the EBIT margin, this means a decline from 8.4% in the second quarter of 2015/16 to 7.9% in the quarter under review.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2015/16, the number of employees (FTE) in the Metal Forming Division was 10,212 or 3.3% higher than last year’s figure in the same period (9,885). This gain is the result of the start-up of new plants in the Automotive Body Parts business segment as part of the Group’s internationalization strategy and the acquisition of Wickeder Steel Company in the USA. Compared with the figure at the end of the last business year (10,328), headcount fell by 1.1%.