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voestalpine AG /voestalpine with solid development in the first nine months of Business Year 2016/17

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9-month report

In a macroeconomic environment, which is characterized by moderate
economic growth but political turbulences (Brexit, Trump,
Turkey,...), voestalpine was able to continue its solid development.
In particular the automotive industry, as well as the whole consumer
goods sector and the aviation industry continued to be the drivers of
the positive economic trend. The development of the mechanical
engineering segment and the building industry showed a positive
progression as well, the railway infrastructure business on the other
hand weakened somewhat over the course of the year. The downward
trend of the oil- and gas-industry bottomed out in the third quarter
of the business year 2016/17, in some areas first improvements from
the demand side are becoming visible already. The comparison of the
financial key figures on an annual basis is distorted because of
non-recurring items positively influencing the figures of last year's
comparative period after changes of consolidations in the Metal
Engineering Division (non-recurring positive effects on EBITDA resp.
EBIT in the first nine months of the Business Year 2015/16: EUR 137.6
million respectively EUR 119.0 million). Excluding those
non-recurring items, the 12-months comparison of the clean EBITDA
shows a virtually stable development, although revenues declined
slightly (-3.3%). The decline from last year's EUR 1,069.7 million to
today's EUR 1,061.1 million stands for a decrease of 0.8%. Because of
increased depreciation, EBIT decreased comparatively stronger by 8.5%
to EUR 556.1 million. (Comparable period of last business year: EUR
608.0 million). Responsible for this development are in particular
the divisions Special Steel and Metal Forming, which were able to
increase their earnings significantly, the latter one in a
combination with rising revenues, a result of the successful
implementation of the globalization strategy in the automotive
segment. The Special Steel Division increased the earnings
considerably despite lower revenues, a function of higher production-
as well as sales-volumes and internal cost cutting and efficiency
improvement measures. Also the Steel Division achieved a slightly
improved EBITDA despite declining revenues. Because of the ramp up of
the DRI-plant in Texas, USA, the depreciation went up in the third