Financial key performance indicators

Even though the framework conditions were largely difficult for the Special Steel Division throughout the business year 2013/14, it was able to maintain last year’s solid level for nearly all of its key figures. Although revenue fell slightly in a year-to-year comparison, the division’s earning power remained stable. The primary reasons for the 4.4% drop in revenue from EUR 2,748.4 million in the business year 2012/13 to EUR 2,627.9 million in the year under review were, in equal measure, declining prices and lower delivery volumes. The fact that, despite lower revenue, the operating result (EBITDA) and profit from operations (EBIT) remained steady is the result of consistent optimization of production processes and strict cost control mechanisms on one hand, and, on the other, the first positive contributions of acquisitions made in the previous year. EBITDA went down only slightly by 2.3% from EUR 366.8 million in the previous year to EUR 358.5 million in the business year 2013/14. And even though revenue was lower than in the previous year, the division succeeded in increasing its operating profit margin (EBITDA margin) from 13.3% to 13.6%. At EUR 224.4 million, EBIT slightly surpassed the previous year’s figure of EUR 221.8 million, thus increasing the EBIT margin from 8.1% to 8.5%.

A direct comparison of the third and fourth quarters of 2013/14 shows progress that is quite impressive with regard to operating performance. Improvement of revenue and earnings stemmed from a significant increase in delivery volume as the improved economic environment had not yet manifested itself in higher prices. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013/14 was EUR 680.8 million, 9.6% higher than the figure of EUR 621.2 million in the immediately preceding quarter. In the same period, EBITDA rose by more than one third from EUR 77.5 million to EUR 104.7 million, with the EBITDA margin increasing from 12.5% to 15.4%. The gain in profit from operations (EBIT) was impressive, with the division reporting EUR 69.9 million in the fourth quarter, a record for the business year, that soared past EBIT in the third quarter of 2013/14 (EUR 44.7 million) by 56.4%. At 10.3%, the fourth quarter of 2013/14 saw a two-digit EBIT margin for the first time in quite some time; the third quarter figure had been only 7.2%.

As of March 31, 2014, the Special Steel Division had 12,885 employees (FTE), an increase of 1.3% compared to the same reporting date in the past business year (12,721 FTEs).