Belgium-based steel cord and wire manufacturer Bekaert has announced its financial results for the first half this year.
In the first half, the company achieved consolidated sales revenues of €2.06 billion, down by 11.1 percent year on year due to lower sales volumes, decreased performance on passing raw material costs to selling prices and an unfavorable impact from exchange rate movements. Its EBITDA decreased by 9.1 percent compared to the same period of last year to €288 million, while its EBITDA margin increased to 14.0 percent from 13.7 percent in the first half of 2023.
Bekaert continued to invest in the organic growth of the company with €65 million in investments in property, plant and equipment (up from € 61 million in the same period last year). The largest investment programs in the first half this year were the expansion of tire reinforcement capacity in India and Vietnam, in energy and utility reinforcement wire in North America, and in capacity expansion for the porous transport layers in the hydrogen component business.
The company’s steel wire division anticipates the usual seasonality effects in the second half of the year, particularly in Europe, while it expects a pick-up in demand in Latin America. Strong year-on-year margin improvement and cash flow generation is expected for FY 2024.
The company did not change its profit expectations for the full year of 2024.