Image: (Amag)
VIENNA/BRAUNAU. The aluminum group Austria Metall AG (Amag) can look forward to a record year in the past year. For the first time, profits reached a three-digit million figure at 109 million euros (up 70 percent) – with sales of 1.7 billion euros (37 percent over 2021).
But the satisfaction with the development in the past three years is short-lived: Stable development is expected for this year – i.e. no further records – said CEO Gerald Mayer at the annual press conference.
It is still too early for a concrete earnings forecast. The investors (53 percent of the shares are owned by B&C Holding in Vienna, just under seven percent of the shares are in free float) are aware of the cyclical nature of the business and are neither surprised nor disappointed by it.
Stock price jumped up
The stock market price reacted accordingly with a jump of 4.6 percent. Mayer emphasizes that demand for aluminum products will develop positively in the medium term, according to market assessments. As in the previous year, the dividend will be EUR 1.50 per share.
The plants are currently well utilized: the tankhouse in Canada and the foundry in Ranshofen are working at the limit of their capacity. The rolling mills are also well utilized. In the second half of 2022, demand in individual construction and industry-related segments fell by up to ten percent. In industrial applications, it is still cautious, says Mayer.
“Weekend shifts had to be put in in the first half of 2022, and overtime was reduced again in the second half of the year,” reports Mayer.
All in all, sales remained at the level of 2021 at 442,000 tons. Because the product mix was further developed in the direction of specialties, the rolling sector earned better than ever. This is also because, according to Mayer, the increased energy costs were added to the product prices at an early stage.
For the current year, 80 percent of the gas requirement and 60 percent of the electricity requirement are secured in terms of price. With an energy requirement of 0.5 terawatt hours (gas) and 0.3 TWh of electricity, Amag is a major consumer. Mayer says that a stored gas requirement of two months would only be used if the energy were to be directed.
Aluminum wheels made from recycled material
As far as the path towards special products is concerned, Helmut Kaufmann, Chief Technology Officer, gave two examples: Together with customer Audi, it was possible to bring a safety-relevant part such as an aluminum wheel rim to series production with a proportion of 70 percent remelted aluminum. So far, only primary aluminum has been used. And with skis from Fischer, the aluminum core now also contains 80 percent recycled material.
Kaufmann pointed out that Amag had increased the workforce in Braunau from 1,200 to more than 2,000 over the past 15 years, and that the proportion of academics and thus the proportion of research was also increasing.
Source: Nachrichten
