- Improved global sentiment in expectation of an economic upturn, but to date uneven development across the individual economic regions
- Europe with turnaround after summer 2013, but momentum still weak
- USA back on the path to growth after government shutdown in the fall of 2013
- China on stable course of expansion, Brazil with moderate domestic growth trend, India with comparatively low dynamic
- European automobile industry shows slight improvement, construction only slowly gaining momentum, consumer goods and white goods stable, mechanical engineering volatile, railways and aviation with solid global development
- Conventional energy sector with continued weak demand (with the exception of exploration)
- Profitability of the Group as a whole (EBITDA and EBIT margin) largely stable
- Metal Engineering and Metal Forming Division with newly improved results
- Steel Division with significant decline in results, Special Steel Division only slightly below level of the previous year
- Revenue at –3.1% fell slightly to EUR 8,384.1 million (previous year: EUR 8,652.5 million)
- Operating result (EBITDA) with fundamentally constant margin falls slightly (currently 12.0%, 12.1% in the previous year): EUR 1,006.8 million, after EUR 1,043.8 million in 2012/13
- Gearing ratio (net financial debt in percent of equity) almost stable year-on-year at 50.2% (previous year: 49.8%), somewhat higher compared to reporting date March 31, 2013 (44.5%) due to working capital
- Implementation of the HBI project in Texas on schedule and within budget
1 All key figures compared to the same nine-month period in the business year 2012/13.