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Salzgitter AG — Earnings Release 2015
May 13, 2015
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Earnings Release
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Corporate | 13 May 2015 07:30
Salzgitter AG: First quarter 2015 – On track: restructuring program achieves resounding success – highest quarterly profit since 2011
Salzgitter AG / Key word(s): Interim Report
2015-05-13 / 07:30
In the first quarter of the financial year 2015, the Salzgitter Group achieved the highest pre-tax profit since the second quarter of 2011. In spite of the upcoming regular major repair of a blast furnace that will burden profit by around EUR 80 million in the second half of the year, the foundations have been laid for the Group’s sustainable return to the profit zone. Against the backdrop of merely marginal improvements in Europe’s economic environment and the protracted structural crisis in the European steel market, this gratifying trend is reflected first and foremost in the powerful impact exerted by the groupwide “Salzgitter AG 2015” restructuring program. Also after another reduction in the actuarial rate applicable to pension provisions to only 1.5 %, the company continues to enjoy an extremely sound financial basis, with an equity ratio of 31 % and a net credit balance of EUR 345 million.
In the reporting period, external sales remained virtually unchanged compared with the year-earlier period (EUR 2,287.9 million; first quarter of 2014: EUR 2,300.9 million). Earnings before taxes of EUR 51.8 million significantly exceeded the figure posted in the first quarter of 2014 (EUR -8.7 million). Along with particularly positive performance by the Strip Steel and Plate / Section Steel business units, all the other business units also contributed to this success. Pre-tax profit comprises a profit contribution of EUR 3.1 million by the Aurubis investment (first quarter 2014: EUR 8.2 million). The after-tax result stood at EUR 32.7 million (first quarter of 2014: EUR -13.3 million), which brings basic earnings per share to EUR 0.58 (first quarter of 2014: EUR -0.26). The return on capital employed (ROCE) was recorded at 7.5 % (first quarter of 2014: 0.4 %).
External sales by business unit (EUR million):
| Q1 2015 | (Q1 2014) | |
| Strip Steel | 524.8 | (575.4) |
| Plate / Section Steel | 253.2 | (251.8) |
| Energy | 293.9 | (338.9) |
| Trading | 851.9 | (774.6) |
| Technology | 315.1 | (313.0) |
| Industrial Participations / Consolidation | 49.0 | (47.2) |
| Group | 2,287.9 | (2,300.9) |
Earnings before taxes (EBT) by business unit (EUR million):
| Q1 2015 | (Q1 2014) | |
| Strip Steel | 16.6 | -2.2 |
| Plate / Section Steel | -0.7 | -22.4 |
| Energy | -4.7 | -12.3 |
| Trading | 11.8 | 4.9 |
| Technology | 10.1 | 9.2 |
| Industrial Participations / Consolidation | 18.7 | 14.1 |
| Group | 51.8 | -8.7 |
Based on planning by the individual business units, and taking account of further positive effects from the “Salzgitter AG 2015” program, we now assume the following for the Salzgitter Group in the year 2015:
– stable sales,
– a pre-tax profit in the lower to mid-double-digit million euro range and
– a return on capital employed that is higher than the previous year’s figure.
Additional information can be found in the full press release and the financial report published today ( www.salzgitter-ag.com/en ).
As in recent years, we make reference to the fact that opportunities and risks from currently unforeseeable trends in selling prices, input material prices and capacity level developments, as well as changes in the currency parity, may considerably affect performance in the course of the financial year 2015. The resulting fluctuation in the consolidated pre-tax result may, as current events show, be within a considerable range, either to the positive or to the negative. The dimensions of this range become clear if one considers that, with around 12 million tons of steel products sold by the Strip Steel, Plate / Section Steel, Energy and Trading business units, an average EUR 25 change in the margin per ton is sufficient to cause a variation in the annual result of more than EUR 300 million. Moreover, the accuracy of the company’s planning is restricted by the volatile cost of raw materials and shorter contractual durations, on the procurement
Disclaimer: Some of the statements made in this report possess the character of forecasts or may be interpreted as such. They are made upon the best of information and belief and by their nature are subject to the proviso that no unforeseeable deterioration occurs in the economy or in the specific market situation pertaining to the division companies, but rather that the underlying bases of plans and outlooks prove to be accurate as expected in terms of their scope and timing. Notwithstanding prevailing statutory provisions and capital market law in particular, the company undertakes no obligation to continuously update any forward-looking statements that are made solely in connection with circumstances prevailing on the day of their publication.
Contact:
Markus Heidler
Head of Investor Relations
Salzgitter AG
Eisenhüttenstraße 99
38239 Salzgitter
Phone +49 5341 21-6105
Fax +49 5341 21-2570
E-Mail [email protected]
2015-05-13 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a service of EQS Group AG.
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| Language: | English |
| Company: | Salzgitter AG |
| Eisenhüttenstraße 99 | |
| 38239 Salzgitter | |
| Germany | |
| Phone: | +49 5341 21-01 |
| Fax: | +49 5341 21-2727 |
| E-mail: | [email protected] |
| Internet: | www.salzgitter-ag.de |
| ISIN: | DE0006202005 |
| WKN: | 620200 |
| Listed: | Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Hanover; Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart |
| End of News | DGAP News-Service |
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| 356645 2015-05-13 |