Whereas the decline in revenue was moderate, the weakening in individual earnings categories is much more pronounced. This is due only in part to the Group’s operating performance. In the final analysis, non-recurring effects in the reporting period—as announced by way of ad hoc notices dated December 16, 2019, and April 7, 2020—were material to this outcome. They impacted EBITDA in the business year 2019/20 to the tune of EUR 83 million, with the majority affecting its third quarter. Impairment tests led to the recognition of impairment losses in numerous units. Of the total of EUR 402 million in impairment losses for the voestalpine Group in the business year ended, the third quarter accounts for about two thirds and the fourth quarter for about one third. The non-recurring effects thus reduced EBIT (including the EBITDA effects) by EUR 485 million. At EUR 240 million in non-recurring effects, the Steel Division bore the brunt of it. The impact on the Group’s other divisions is considerably weaker: High Performance Metals Division: EUR 81 million, Metal Engineering Division: EUR 88 million, and Metal Forming Division: EUR 76 million.
Non-recurring effects impacted the figures for the same period of the business year 2018/19, too. They were attributable to the delayed start-up of the automotive component plant in Cartersville, Georgia, USA, as well as to the need to set up provisions in connection with an investigation by the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) against steel producers on suspicion of past anti-competitive practices in the heavy plate product segment. The scheduled overhaul of the Steel Division’s largest blast furnace also affected the Group’s performance in the business year 2018/19. Against this backdrop, any comparison of the financial key performance indicators (KPIs) pursuant to IFRS is of limited relevance to descriptions of the company’s operating performance.
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