Outlook

Economic momentum in the business year 2023/24 varied greatly both regionally and in the individual market segments. Thanks to its global positioning and broad diversification, the voestalpine Group was able to generate a solid operating result in the past business year despite the economic weakness in Europe.

The current trends have not changed significantly with the start of the new 2024/25 business year. While Europe is currently still experiencing very subdued economic growth, momentum in North America is solid despite high interest rates. Brazil has cooled off recently, whereas economic growth in China has picked up again somewhat.

Based on this, the economic developments for the 2024/25 business year are estimated as follows:

In Europe, the economy appears to have bottomed out in many segments, which means that at least stable development can be expected for the 2024/25 business year. In addition, possible interest rate cuts could provide positive impetus in the second half of the year.

The presidential elections make forecasts for North America challenging. However, given the resilience of the U.S. economy to interest rate hikes and geopolitical shocks to date, a continuation of the growth trend is quite possible.

Economic growth in South America/Brazil is expected to be slightly weaker in the 2024/25 business year compared to the previous year.

The problems in the real estate sector are likely to continue to affect China in the current business year. However, the latest economic stimulus measures make economic growth around the target range of 5% appear realistic.

With regard to the market segments, the good market environment in the railway infrastructure, aerospace, and warehouse technology segments is expected to continue. The automotive industry and the energy sector should largely continue their stable development to date. The construction, mechanical engineering, and consumer goods segments are likely to remain at least at the current level. Any positive stimuli, such as interest rate cuts, could lead to an upturn in the second half of the 2024/25 business year.

Based on these assumptions and assuming no economic distortions from geopolitical developments, the Management Board of voestalpine AG expects an EBITDA in the range of EUR 1.7 to 1.8 billion for the business year 2024/25.

Strategically, voestalpine’s management will continue to expand the Group’s processing activities globally in the business year 2024/25 and the following years and continue to drive forward the implementation of the greentec steel transformation project towards net zero CO₂ emissions.

Linz, May 27, 2024

The Management Board

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