Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG has announced its financial results for the first nine months ended December 31 of the fiscal year 2016-17.
Accordingly, voestalpine's net profit in the given period decreased to €344 million, down 32.4 percent year on year. The revenues of the company amounted to €8.1 billion, down 3.3 percent year on year. In the period in question, the company's EBITDA was €1.06 billion, decreasing by 12.1 percent year on year, while the EBITDA margin declined from 14.4 percent in the same period of the previous financial year to 13.1 percent.
Voestalpine stated that the year-on-year slight decline in its financial key performance indicators in the given period was primarily due to the extreme weakness of the oil and gas sector throughout 2016.
According to voestalpine, due to a stabilization, at least temporary, in raw material prices, a brightening mood, albeit slight, in the oil and gas sector as well as rising prices in the steel contract business at the turn of the year, a considerable increase in earnings compared to the last quarter is expected. Against this backdrop, the outlook for the entire financial year remains unchanged compared to expectations at the end of the first half of the year. The company’s goal is to achieve an operating result (EBITDA) equal to the level of the previous financial year of €1.45 billion and a profit from operations (EBIT) close to €814 million recorded in the previous year.