EANS-News: voestalpine with significant increase in earnings in the first three quarters 2017/18

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Quarterly Report

Linz - The positive economic trend visible already end of 2016 was confirmed in
the course of calendar year 2017. Above all the upswing of the economy in Europe
was on a broad scale, whereas in the US the upward trend was fuelled by private
consumption rather than by increasing investment activities. In particular
foreign direct investments were at a low level there. China's economy continued
to grow at a robust stable pace. The economy in Brazil has bottomed out in the
2nd half of 2017.
With respect to industry segments the automotive industry proved to be the
driving force of the excellent development of voestalpine Group in the first
three quarters 2017/18. Positive to highlight as well are the order intake from
the consumer goods industry which remained stable at a solid level, the strong
dynamics in the aviation sector as well as the improving environment in the
mechanical engineering industry. Furthermore signs of an economic recovery were
noticeable in the construction industry and at least from a volume's perspective
in the oil and gas sector as well. On the negative side, investment activities
in combination with a fierce price competition in the European railway
infrastructure market had to be faced in the reporting period.
Against this backdrop, voestalpine Group achieved significant growth in the
first three quarters 2017/18 in comparison with the corresponding previous year
both in revenues and in the particular earnings categories. More specifically
the Steel Division posted by far the highest improvement in earnings due to a
pick-up of prices as a consequence of the excellent demand situation for high
quality flat steel products. But also the processing divisions were able to
expand their operating profits, primarily based on volume expansions as a result
of the "downstream"-growth strategy.
In the quarter-on-quarter comparison the solid development of the 2nd quarter
was prolonged in the current 3rd quarter. From today's point of view the
operating result (EBITDA) in the 4th quarter should achieve a level similar to
the very strong 1st quarter, so that the expectations from the beginning of the
business year regarding a substantially positive year-over-year development in
both revenue and earnings are confirmed.

Key figures of voestalpine Group

______________________________________________________________________________
|(acc._IFRS)_______|______Q1-Q3_2016/17|______Q1-Q3_2017/18|____________Delta_%|
|__________________|___04/01-12/31/2016|___04/01-12/31/2017|___________________|
|Revenue___________|____________8,101.2|____________9,460.4|______________+16.8|
|EBITDA____________|____________1,061.1|____________1,405.5|______________+32.5|
|EBITDA_margin_in_%|_______________13.1|_______________14.9|___________________|
|EBIT______________|______________545.0|______________834.6|______________+53.1|
|EBIT_margin_in_%__|________________6.7|________________8.8|___________________|
|Profit_before_tax_|______________461.4|______________737.1|______________+59.8|
|Profit before the | 343.9| 555.9| +61.6|
|period_*__________|___________________|___________________|___________________|
|EPS_(euros)_______|_______________1.86|_______________2.95|______________+58.6|
|Gearing-ratio in %| 61.2| 53.5| |
|(12/31)___________|___________________|___________________|___________________|
|In millions of |
|euros_____________|

*Before deduction of non-controlling interests and interest on hybrid capital.

Further details on the 3rd quarter results 2017/18 are available on our homepage
www.voestalpine.com [http://www.voestalpine.com/] or feel free to contact our
Investor Relations team +43/50304/15-9949.

Further inquiry note:
DI Peter Fleischer
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +43/50304/15-9949
Fax: +43/50304/55-5581
mailto:peter.fleischer@voestalpine.com
http://www.voestalpine.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: voestalpine AG
voestalpine-Straße 1
A-4020 Linz
phone: +43 50304/15-9949
FAX: +43 50304/55-5581
mail: IR@voestalpine.com
WWW: www.voestalpine.com
ISIN: AT0000937503
indexes: ATX, WBI
stockmarkets: Wien
language: English

Original-Content von: voestalpine AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell