While the business year 2024/25 began with a solid performance, the economic environment cooled noticeably as the year progressed.
Europe recorded hardly any significant growth over the entire reporting period. In addition, the automotive industry, which is important for voestalpine, weakened significantly in the third quarter.
Outside Europe, the economy performed significantly better. In North America, the economy developed satisfying overall from voestalpine’s perspective, with only investment activity slowing somewhat in the third quarter of the business year in the course of the presidential election campaign. In Brazil, on the other hand, the economy lost somewhat more momentum in the last quarter of the report. In China, demand for the voestalpine Group’s products has held up well overall in the business year 2024/25 to date, except for European OEMs, which suffered a drop in sales in China in the third quarter of the business year.
For the fourth quarter of the business year 2024/25, the Management Board of voestalpine AG expects the good demand situation for railway infrastructure, high bay warehouse technology and aerospace to continue in all economic regions worldwide.
There are hardly any signs of positive economic impetus for Europe in the coming months. No recovery is expected for the construction, mechanical engineering, consumer goods and automotive sectors in the last quarter of the current business year, except for restocking in individual segments.
Expectations for North America are divided. The Group’s local North American sites should continue to benefit from the good economic momentum, whereas exports to the USA are fraught with uncertainty due to the announced tariffs on steel products.
Considering the latest interest rate hike by the BCB (Brazil’s central bank), there are no signs of any significant improvement in the economic environment in Brazil.
The Chinese voestalpine plants, which are primarily dependent on local industrial production, should continue to develop well in the coming months.
Against the backdrop of the results for the first nine months of the current business year 2024/25 and the expectations for the final quarter, the Management Board of voestalpine AG expects from today’s point of view an EBITDA for the business year 2024/25 of around EUR 1.3 billion and therefore slightly lower than previously communicated (around EUR 1.4 billion). This corresponds to an EBIT of around EUR 500 million. These earnings expectations include negative non-recurring burdens of around EUR 200 million, among others from the sale of Buderus Edelstahl as well as from reorganization projects like the Automotive Components sites in Germany.