Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended June 30 of the fiscal year 2014-15.
Accordingly, voestalpine's net profit in the first quarter increased to €154 million, up 12,2 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The revenues of the company decreased by 2.4 percent to €2.83 billion year on year, due to lower pre-material costs and structural changes such as closure of standard rail production in Duisburg.
In the given quarter, the company's EBITDA was €364 million, remaining unchanged year on year, which is equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 12.9 percent, up from 12.6 percent in the same period of the previous year.
According to voestalpine's statement, the upward economic trend in the EU received a boost from improved demand from within Europe, and North America continued to demonstrate a strong economic performance. After a somewhat weaker trend in the early part of the year, China is back to a stable development at a solid level. Indications of future demand from the most important customer industries point to a development that ranges from stable to moderately positive for the year. For the voestalpine Group, the current development of the economy means practically full capacity utilization in all four divisions.