Report on the financial key performance indicators of the voestalpine Group

Revenue of the voestalpine Group in the first quarter of 2018/19 was EUR 3,469.0 million compared to EUR 3,251.5 million in the first quarter of 2017/18—an increase of 6.7% that also represents the highest ever for a business quarter. While all four divisions contributed to this revenue growth, the Metal Forming Division provided the greatest boost thanks to the continuous expansion of its automotive activities. Despite the substantial reduction in delivery volumes due especially to the long-planned overhaul of the blast furnace, the Steel Division succeeded in raising its revenue as well thanks to better prices and its continually improved product mix. Higher sale prices in connection with rising deliveries lifted the revenue of both the High Performance Metals Division and the Metal Engineering Division.

The voestalpine Group’s performance in terms of profits was largely stable year over year. At EUR 513.0 million, EBITDA in the first quarter of the business year 2018/19 was practically identical to the previous year’s level of EUR 513.8 million, but the EBITDA margin fell from 15.8% to 14.8% on account of the current rise in revenue. In terms of earnings, the Steel Division largely offset the loss of production resulting from the overhaul of its major blast furnace and the associated decline in volumes through both higher prices and an improved product mix. Slightly higher delivery volumes in the High Performance Metals Division led to some improvement in EBITDA over the previous year. The Metal Engineering Division boosted its operating result primarily thanks to the good performance of the wire segment following the start-up losses the division incurred in the same period of the previous year in connection with the new rolling mill. In the Metal Forming Division, by contrast, the slightly weaker operating performance of the Tubes & Sections business segment caused EBITDA in the first quarter of the business year 2018/19 to fall somewhat below the level in the same quarter of the previous year. Due to slightly higher depreciation, the voestalpine Group’s EBIT declined by 1.5% from EUR 328.8 million in the first quarter of 2017/18 to EUR 323.8 million in the reporting quarter. This caused the EBIT margin to drop from 10.1% to 9.3% in the same period. Due to the lower net interest expense as well as the declining tax rate, there was a year-over-year improvement in each of the two categories, “profit before tax” (increase to EUR 294.3 million from EUR 292.4 million in the previous year) and “profit after tax” (increase to EUR 224.4 million from EUR 218.4 million in the previous year).

While the gearing ratio (net financial debt as a percentage of equity) as of June 30, 2018, fell to 49.0% from 53.8% as of June 30, 2017, it rose slightly compared to the March 31, 2018, reporting date (45.7%). The increase measured at the close of the previous business year resulted primarily from the increase in the net financial debt from EUR 2,995.1 million as of March 31, 2018, to EUR 3,314.4 million as of June 30, 2018. Year over year, however, the net financial debt declined somewhat from EUR 3,347.2 million as of June 30, 2017. The simultaneous increase in receivables and decrease in payables as well as the slight increase in inventories caused the working capital to rise accordingly in the first three months of the current business year. In contrast to the net financial debt, as of June 30, 2018, at EUR 6,763.3 million equity improved substantially yet again not just in a year-over-year comparison (EUR 6,220.8 million as of June 30, 2017), but also compared to the annual reporting date (EUR 6,554.3 million as of March 31, 2018).

As of June 30, 2018, the voestalpine Group had 51,827 employees (FTE), an increase of about 3.6% year over year (50,047 employees). This is 0.4% higher than the number as of the March 31, 2018, reporting date (51,621 employees).

Net financial debt can be broken down as follows: