Metal Engineering Division

This report is a translation of the original report in German, which is solely valid.

Market Environment and Business Development

The stable, good market environment of Railway Systems, the Metal Engineering Division’s main business segment, was key to the division’s performance in the first half of the business year 2021/22. This segment benefited especially from robust demand in its European core markets. The Industrial Systems business segment, for its part, succeeded in pursuing the upward trajectory that had started in the second half of the business year 2020/21 and thus in boosting capacity utilization yet further at its most important facilities. Steel production in Donawitz, Austria, which is responsible for supplying downstream processing segments with high-quality pre-material, had to contend with volatile raw materials and energy costs.

As usual, Railway Systems delivered solid performance in the current business year’s first half also. Delivery volumes in its rails product segment (largely for European railway operators) were good. The project volume in Eastern Europe, which had weakened slightly in the previous business year, followed a satisfactory trend.

Thanks to its global facilities, the turnout systems product segment benefited from largely good demand, which was more or less as robust as that in the rails segment, especially in key European markets. Investments in the heavy-haul transport sector in both Australia and Brazil and thus the demand for rail technology components and systems also developed along a positive trajectory. Demand in North America improved ­slightly. By contrast, order call-ups for turnout systems used in China’s high-speed network remained volatile. Both India and Thailand saw some project postponement due to COVID-19.

Year over year, Industrial Systems succeeded in expanding its business volume, which is strongly reflected in the wire technology product segment among others. The order situation was good despite the semiconductor supply chain difficulties among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In a satisfactory market environment, the segment succeeded in passing on most of its higher raw materials costs, albeit after a slight delay. Exploration activity in the oil & natural gas sector has rebounded in part owing to continually rising crude oil prices. Increases in both orders and capacity utilization subsequently made it possible to once again return to three shifts at the Kindberg, Austria, facility. But the protectionist Section 232 tariffs of 25% on steel imports into the important U.S. market continue to weigh on earnings. Good demand and a favorable market environment in key sales regions determined the performance of the welding product segment (welding techno­logy) in the first half of the business year 2021/22. Improved conditions in the oil & natural gas industry contributed to this segment’s upward trend. The energy shortage in China, which led to temporary production stoppages at voestalpine’s facility in the Chinese city, Suzhou, posed a challenge toward the end of the reporting period.

Financial Key Performance Indicators

The Metal Engineering Division’s year-over-year upward trend is manifested in the development of its key performance indicators (KPIs). While the Railway Systems business segment succeeded in maintaining its stable, good performance (just as it did during the COVID-19 lockdowns), the Industrial Systems business segment turned out to be key to the significant improvement in the KPIs. On the whole, the division’s revenue rose by 20.9% to EUR 1,614.9 million in the first half of the business year 2021/22, up from EUR 1,335.9 million in the first half of the business year 2020/21. The wire technology and tubulars product segments, which were hit particularly hard a year earlier by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, succeeded in almost doubling revenue.

Along with the welding product segment, both wire technology and tubulars thus also made key contributions to the increase in EBITDA by 81.1% to EUR 199.7 million in the first half of 2021/22, up from EUR 110.3 million in the first half of 2020/21. The EBITDA margin also improved substantially, from 8.3% to 12.4%. At EUR –9.6 million (margin of –0.7%), EBIT had been slightly negative in H 1 2020/21, but it soared to EUR 111.1 million (margin of 6.9%) in H 1 2021/22.

The quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) comparison also shows that the KPIs of the Metal Engineering Divi­sion developed along a positive trajectory. On the whole, the seasonal weakening during the Northern summer is not as pronounced in this division as it is in the voestalpine Group’s other three divisions. Thanks to its solid business volume in Railway Systems, the Division boosted its rev­enue by 1.6% to EUR 814.0 million in Q 2 2021/22, up from EUR 800.9 million in Q 1 2021/22. In­dustrial Systems saw but a slight weakening in revenue due to seasonal declines in delivery volumes that went hand in hand with higher prices. However, this business segment’s earnings improved because increases in sale prices for wire and seamless tube products outpaced those in raw materials. As a result, Industrial Systems contributed in Q 2 2021/22 to the 7.6% increase in the Metal Engineering Division’s EBITDA to EUR 103.5 million with a margin of 12.7% (Q 1 2021/22: EUR 96.2 million, margin of 12.0%). Its EBIT rose during the same period by 14.1%, from EUR 51.9 million (margin of 6.5%) to EUR 59.2 million (margin of 7.3%).