Image: Wolfgang Spitzbart
Earnings after taxes improved by 24 percent to 864 million euros compared to the retrospectively adjusted comparative figures for the same period of the previous year, as the listed company announced on Wednesday. Sales climbed “in an overall challenging economic environment” by 29 percent to 13.6 billion euros.
Earnings were supported by very strong demand in the energy, aviation and railway systems product areas. “In most business areas we have also succeeded in passing on the rising raw material and energy costs,” reported CEO Herbert Eibensteiner. “The very good result is once again based on our broad positioning in different market segments and economic regions,” explained the CEO.
raised outlook
According to the company, however, the areas of household appliances and consumer goods industry as well as the construction industry showed a decreasing dynamic. The automotive industry continued to be affected by bottlenecks in its supply chains. In Europe, orders from automotive customers did not increase significantly. Things went better outside of Europe – especially in China, the general conditions were “rather favorable”.
The management has now slightly raised the outlook for the entire 2022/23 financial year (as of the end of March). The Executive Board expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 2.5 billion euros. In November, 2.3 to 2.4 billion euros were promised.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year (April 1 to December 31, 2022), EBITDA increased by 23 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.9 billion, although the margin fell from 14.5 to 13.8 percent .
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by a good 19 percent to EUR 1.1 billion, but the EBIT margin fell from 9.1 to 8.4 percent. Earnings per share (EPS) rose by 17 percent from EUR 3.81 to EUR 4.46.
The level of debt (gearing) improved significantly from 46 to 35.1 percent. Equity increased from 6.3 to 7.6 billion euros. voestalpine employs around 50,000 people worldwide.
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