FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Weak demand resulting from a weak economy has brought a decline in profits for Austrian steel and technology group Vostalpine.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) fell 31.7 percent to 1.3 billion euros in the first nine months of the 2023/24 fiscal year, the Linz-based company announced on Wednesday. Sales fell 8.8 percent to 12.4 billion euros. “The first nine months of the current fiscal year have clearly seen an expected economic slowdown,” said CEO Herbert Eibensteiner. Weak economic growth in Europe in particular had a negative impact on outcomes.
Eibensteiner described the challenges from his point of view that in the future, ensuring the competitiveness of the industrial location will be of utmost importance. Key points for this are the expansion of renewable energy supplies and networks and extended electricity price compensation until 2030. “Unfortunately, Austria has not taken advantage of the opportunities created by the EU,” complained the CEO.
According to the company, investments in industrial production facilities have weakened significantly and are unlikely to pick up anytime soon. Europe continues to be at the bottom of the league in terms of economic growth. Hence the group does not expect any positive stimulus from this market. Despite the poor economic outlook, the board stuck to the revised outlook in November and expects Ebitda at the lower end of the range of 1.7 to 1.9 billion euros for the fiscal year that runs to the end of March. In 2022/23, Voestalpine reached record figures – Ebitda rose to 2.5 billion euros.
(Reporting by Philipp Krach, editing by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets))
