Metal Forming Division*

Market environment and business development

The Metal Forming Division reported an outstanding development of all four business segments in the first quarter of 2016/17, thus carrying forward the upward trend demonstrated during the previous quarters into the new business year. The driver of this continued growth is still the automotive industry worldwide. With the opening of the first facility for the hot forming of press-hardened steel in a single process step (direct process, or phs-directform^®) in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, in early July 2016, the division is maintaining its expansion in the automotive sector based on its highly innovative proprietary technology.

In the first quarter of 2016/17, the performance of the Tubes & Sections business segment was characterized by an economic environment in the European core markets and in specific segments of the US market (aerospace, storage technology) that was improved in comparison to the previous year, although the momentum coming out of China was limited. In the two other business segments (Precision Strip and Warehouse & Rack Solutions), the level of demand remained largely stable, while the operating result again increased.

Financial key performance indicators

The Metal Forming Division increased its revenue from EUR 565.5 million in the first quarter of 2015/16 to EUR 615.8 million in the first quarter of 2016/17. The Automotive Components business segment, which is showing very significant growth, had the largest boost in revenue. In terms of earnings, all of the business segments contributed to the marked improvement of the key performance indicators. EBITDA improved in a year-to-year comparison by 15.4%, from EUR 69.3 million to EUR 80.0 million, with EBIT even increasing by 19.7%, from EUR 46.1 million to EUR 55.2 million. Additionally, the division concurrently recorded a substantial gain in its net profit ratio. The EBITDA margin rose from 12.3% in the first quarter of 2015/16 to 13.0% in the first quarter of 2016/17, while the EBIT margin increased in the same period from 8.1% to 9.0%.