Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine AG has announced its financial results for the first half ended September 30 of the financial year 2023-2024.
The company posted a net profit of €333 million for the first half, compared to a net profit of €715 million in the same half of the previous financial year. In the first half, the revenues of the company amounted to €8.5 billion, down 8.4 percent year on year. In the given period, the company’s EBITDA was €915 million, falling by 36.7 percent year on year.
According to Voestalpine’s statement, demand from the construction, mechanical engineering, and consumer goods segments for the company’s products declined. Exports by Chinese steelmakers also put strong pressure on the international steel markets. Nevertheless, the company’s performance in the most important customer segments remained consistently positive thanks to its strategic focus on the highest quality.
The company also plans to replace one blast furnace at each of the Linz and Donawitz plants with a green electricity-powered electric arc furnace by 2027, which will result in a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions.
Voestalpine said it expects the weak conditions in the construction, mechanical engineering, and consumer goods industries to continue in the second half of the current financial year and thus assumes no substantial improvement in demand in these segments. Additionally, the automotive industry should remain largely robust in the second half of the financial year 2023-2024.
The company also expects its EBITDA to be in the range of €1.7 billion in the financial year 2023-2024.
In addition, Voestalpine stated that the impact of current geopolitical developments remains difficult to assess. However, it is clear that the war in Europe and the armed conflict in the Middle East have significantly increased the risk of unforeseeable influences on the economic environment. This makes all forecasts more uncertain.