Development of the key figures

At EUR 3,336.1 million, the revenue of the voestalpine Group in the first quarter of the business year 2019/20 was 3.8% lower than the EUR 3,469.0 million recorded in the first quarter of the business year 2018/19. All four of the Group’s divisions were confronted with a slight decline in revenue resulting mainly from lower delivery volumes. Slightly lower prices in the Steel Division were another negative factor. In earnings terms, the reductions in the sales volume stemming from macroeconomic factors as well as higher costs resulting from rising prices for iron ore and CO₂ emission certificates were decisive to the Group’s weaker performance in the reporting quarter. The start-up costs at the Group’s Automotive Components plant in Cartersville, Georgia, USA, further depressed the earnings of the Metal Forming Division in the reporting period. By contrast, the first-time recognition of leases as per IFRS 16 had a positive effect on EBITDA. On the whole, however, the EBITDA of the voestalpine Group for the first quarter of the business year 2019/20 dropped year over year by 27.7%, from EUR 513.0 million to EUR 370.9 million, with a corresponding decline in the EBITDA margin from 14.8% to 11.1%. By contrast, depreciation, amortization, and impairment losses in the voestalpine Group for the first quarter of the business year 2019/20 rose from EUR 189.2 million to EUR 214.3 million due to the Group’s investment activities as well as the accounting treatment of leases pursuant to IFRS 16 and the resulting need for write-downs. Hence EBIT plunged year over year by more than one half, from EUR 323.8 million (EBIT margin of 9.3%) to EUR 156.7 million (EBIT margin of 4.7%). At net financial income of EUR –32.3 million in the reporting period (previous year: EUR –29.5 million), the profit before tax dropped by 57.7%, from EUR 294.3 million to EUR 124.4 million. Based on a tax rate of 27.3%, the profit after tax for the first quarter of the business year 2019/20 thus is EUR 90.4 million (previous year: EUR 226.3 million).

The gearing ratio (net financial debt as a percentage of equity) climbed from 49.0% as of June 30, 2018 (and 46.6% as of the March 31, 2019, annual reporting date) to 58.1% as of June 30, 2019. This increase is due to the growth in net financial debt from EUR 3,314.4 million as of June 30, 2018 (or EUR 3,125.4 million as of the March 31, 2019, annual reporting date) to EUR 3,896.5 million as of June 30, 2019. For the most part, the increase relative to March 31, 2019, stems from the recognition of leases pursuant to IFRS 16, which raised the interest-bearing liabilities by about EUR 437 million compared with the annual reporting date. Moreover, the change in the working capital in the first quarter of the business year 2019/20 (EUR –403.2 million) had a negative effect on net debt also, causing negative free cash flow in the reporting quarter. At EUR 6,712.1 million as of June 30, 2019, equity—the second element of the gearing ratio—was stable overall, both year over year (EUR 6,763.3 million as of June 30, 2018) and relative to the March 31, 2019, annual reporting date, when it was EUR 6,709.8 million.

Net financial debt can be broken down as follows: