Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended June 30 of the financial year 2017-18.
Accordingly, voestalpine's net profit in the given quarter amounted to €218.4 million, compared to a net profit of €105.8 million in the first quarter of the previous financial year. The revenues of the company amounted to €3.25 billion, up 17.2 percent year on year, primarily due to higher prices. In the given period, the company's EBITDA was €513.8 million, increasing by 53.8 percent year on year, while the EBITDA margin stood at 15.8 percent compared to 12 percent in the same period of the previous year.
Voestalpine stated that it expects the second quarter to be characterized by continued strong demand although also by seasonal effects (production cutbacks due to regular summer plant closures). Contrary to the summer months in past years, due to current strong market growth this should not have a fundamental effect on the overall positive earnings performance in the first six months of the financial year 2017-18. However, this does not allow for reliable forecasts of the development of the year’s second half before the end of the second quarter, especially with respect to the ongoing volatility of raw materials prices.