Report on the financial key performance indicators of the voestalpine Group

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

The voestalpine Group posted record highs for the first half of the business year 2022/23 with respect to both revenue and other performance categories. Its individual business segments succeeded in significantly raising their prices year over year against the backdrop of strong increases in the cost of key raw materials and pre-materials as well as record highs in the cost of electricity and natural gas. The improved product mix had a positive effect on the Group’s financial key performance indicators (KPIs) for the reporting period as well.

Questions of volume, however, present a more differentiated picture. The Steel Division saw a slight year-over-year decline in deliveries. The High Performance Metals Division also had to contend with slight reductions in deliveries. The Metal Engineering Division, by contrast, boosted its sales figures on account of the upswing in the oil and natural gas sector. Year over year, the voestalpine Group boosted total revenue for H1 2022/23 by more than one third to EUR 9,295.2 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 6,806.4 million). Raising product prices beyond the level of the increase in input costs enabled the Group to boost its gross margin and thus to improve its operating result (EBITDA) year over year. In sum, EBITDA for the reporting period climbed 42.0% to EUR 1,445.7 million with a margin of 15.6% (H1 2021/22: EUR 1,018.1 million, margin of 15.0%). A total of EUR 173 million in impairment losses for the first half of 2022/23 had a negative impact on the High Performance Metals Division. Specifically, impairment losses of EUR 54 million were taken on the assets of Buderus Edelstahl (Wetzlar, Germany) and of EUR 119 million on the goodwill of HPM Production, a cash generating unit. voestalpine succeeded nonetheless in boosting EBIT by 40.7% year over year, from EUR 638.3 million (margin of 9.4%) to EUR 898.1 million (margin of 9.7%).

Based on net interest income of EUR 51.8 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 39.0 million), the voestalpine Group posted profit before tax of EUR 846.3 million for H1 2022/23, up 41.2% from EUR 599.3 million in the previous year. Given a tax rate of 25.9% (H1 2021/22: 20.9%), the profit after tax from continued operations rose year over year by 32.3% to EUR 626.9 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 473.9 million). As the profit after tax from discontinued operations for H1 2022/23 of EUR 88.2 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 11.8 million) shows, the voestalpine Texas Group was accounted for up to the closing of the transaction at the end of June 2022. Consequently, the Group’s profit after tax for H1 2022/23 is EUR 715.1 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 485.7 million).

Year over year, the voestalpine Group significantly reduced the gearing ratio (net financial debt as a percentage of equity) as of September 30, 2022, to 32.7% (September 30, 2021: 45.1%). Compared with the March 31, 2022, reporting date, however, the gearing ratio remained constant (32.4%). The dramatic strengthening of the Group’s equity base was key to the substantial year-over-year improvement in the gearing ratio. As of September 30, 2022, equity rose year over year by 23.9% to EUR 7,532.9 million (September 30, 2021: EUR 6,077.5 million). This increase, in turn, was achieved thanks to excellent earnings growth in the past four business quarters. Compared with the March 31, 2022, reporting date (EUR 7,069.3 million), equity rose by 6.6%. Net financial debt fell year over year by 10.2% to EUR 2,464.9 million (H1 2021/22: EUR 2,743.5 million). Compared with the level as of the March 31, 2022, reporting date (EUR 2,291.2 million), however, net financial debt rose 7.6%. This increase results from the dramatic rise in net working capital during H1 2022/23, which occurred primarily in response to the rising cost of raw materials, energy, and other input materials. Net working capital was also expanded on account of the significant increase in back-up inventories of raw materials due to current logistics challenges as well as the Group’s first-ever stockpile of natural gas. The proceeds from the sale of the voestalpine Group’s 80% stake in voestalpine Texas, by contrast, had a positive impact on net financial debt in H1 2022/23.

The number of employees (FTE, full-time equivalents) in the voestalpine Group rose 2.7% year over year, from 49,068 as of September 30, 2021, to 50,374 as of September 30, 2022. This increase is mainly due to the rebound in individual customer segments such as the oil and natural gas sector as well as the aerospace industry. Compared with the number of employees (50,225) as of the March 31, 2022, reporting date, however, the number of employees in the reporting period remained largely constant.