EANS-News: voestalpine AG / voestalpine Group revenue and earnings at an all-time-high

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Financial Figures/Balance Sheet

Linz - By consistently implementing its international growth strategy and
concentrating simultaneously on innovation, technology, and efficiency in an
economic environment characterized by a broad upswing, in the business year
2017/18 the voestalpine Group achieved new records with respect to both revenue
and all earnings categories. In doing so, the Group even posted an earnings
level above that of the boom prior to the financial crisis, although momentum in
individual strategic core markets such as the oil and natural gas sector or
railway infrastructure is not comparable to the levels of that period.

All in all, however, the global economic trend during the past business year was
one of growth on a broad front. The momentum in Europe, and partly also in North
America, accelerated over the course of the year, while China was able to retain
its high growth rates of the past years despite restructuring measures in some
industry segments. Even Brazil succeeded in getting back on an expansive track
in 2017, after four years of recession.

Towards the end of the business year, the increasingly protectionist trade
policies of the US administration seriously dampened global economic sentiment,
but they failed to have any effect on the real economy during the business year
2017/18.
Thus, the automotive industry remained strong, and the consumer goods and
aerospace industries were stable at a high level. While there was an upward
trend in the mechanical engineering industry, especially in Europe, and the oil
and natural gas sector continued its recovery, particularly in North America, it
was the railway infrastructure sector in Europe which was confronted by slowing
demand even though it remained strong in China.
In this environment, the voestalpine Group was able to significantly boost its
revenue and earnings across all categories, achieving all-time-highs unmatched
in the Group's history. All the divisions contributed to this performance
through growth in revenue and operating results (EBITDA), with the greatest
improvement recorded by the Steel Division.
At the start of the Group's new business year 2018/19, potential political risks
still do not seem to have any palpable effect on at least the fundamentals of
the global economy. Demand remains positive in almost all sectors of the economy
and customer segments.
The excellent economic environment in the first quarter of 2018/19 gives us
reason to expect that the strong development of key markets will continue
unabated at minimum until the fall of 2018. But one must take into account with
respect to the earnings performance of voestalpine AG that the results for 2018/
19-particularly those of the second quarter-will be massively affected by the
long-planned repairs and resulting downtime of the Group's largest blast
furnace. Excluding this non-recurring effect, the operating result for the first
six months of the current business year should more or less equal that for the
first half of the business year 2017/18.
It is much more difficult, however, to provide a forecast for the second half of
the business year 2018/19, because material adverse effects from the trade
policies of at least some countries will likely make themselves felt by this
time. Moreover, the question as to the sustainability of the current economic
boom, whose roots reach back to 2016, will also crop up by then.
The uncertainties in the second half of the business year 2018/19
notwithstanding, both EBITDA and EBIT for the year on the whole should
correspond more or less to the previous year's level. This is based on the
assumption that the negative effects of the blast furnace repairs can be offset
largely by positive effects from the recovery of individual sectors (railway
infrastructure, oil and natural gas sector) and that the fallout from
international trade policies will be limited. The successful ramp up of major
facilities in the past 12 months (wire rolling mill in Austria; automotive
components plants in the United States, Mexico, and China; HBI-plant in the US;
etc.) should have a stabilizing effect on the results as well.

Key figures of voestalpine Group

______________________________________________________________________________
|(acc._IFRS)_______________|BY_2016/17___________|BY_2017/18___________|Delta_%|
|__________________________|04/01/2016-03/31/2017|04/01/2017-03/31/2018|_______|
|Revenue___________________|11,294.5_____________|12,897.8_____________|+14.2__|
|EBITDA____________________|1,540.7______________|1,954.1______________|+26.8__|
|EBITDA_margin_in_%________|13.6%________________|15.2%________________|_______|
|EBIT______________________|823.3________________|1,180,0______________|+43.3__|
|EBIT_margin_in_%__________|7.3%_________________|9.1%_________________|_______|
|Profit_before_tax_________|699.9________________|1,042.5______________|+48.9__|
|Profit_before_the_period_*|527.0________________|817.9________________|+55.2__|
|EPS_(euros)_______________|2.84_________________|4.40_________________|+54.9__|
|Gearing-ratio_in_%_(03/31)|53.2%________________|45.7%________________|_______|
|In_millions_of_euros______|

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

voestalpine AG's Annual Report 2017/18 as of March 31, 2018, may be viewed on
the Company's website, www.voestalpine.com [http://www.voestalpine.com/], under
the "Investors" tab.

If you have any questions, please contact the Investor Relations Team at +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