For Buderus Edelstahl, a voestalpine Group company, the economic conditions have deteriorated massively. In order to safeguard the international competitiveness of the special steel producer, the company management feels compelled to initiate a further restructuring program in the coming year in addition to the ongoing cost reduction and efficiency improvement measures. The plan is to reduce the proportion of in-house production within a product area, which will also be accompanied by an adjustment of the workforce. Over the last ten years, voestalpine has invested over EUR 300 million in the future viability of the plant.

In November 2019 the Management Board of voestalpine AG announced an investigation into the impact of the changing global economic framework conditions on the long-term positioning of all key business segments. At a Management Board meeting in Linz today, far-reaching decisions were taken based on the results of this analysis. The most recent changes in the global economy, primarily the global trade dispute, but also Europe’s continuing development as an economic region which clearly has a dwindling interest in a continuous industrial value chain, demand measures over and above purely short-term operative optimizations.

In the current business year, non-recurring effects in an amount of EUR 360 million will negatively influence the result of voestalpine AG. This charge essentially contains write-offs due to impairment of assets and is the result of the analysis of possible effects of the changed global economic conditions on the main business segments of voestalpine, announced in the last outlook.

Regarding the press release issued today by the Bundeskartellamt on the subject of the “Quarto plate cartel” voestalpine AG confirms its involvement in the stated proceedings and has consented to a settlement with the German Bundeskartellamt in which it will pay a fine of EUR 65.5 million. voestalpine became aware of the Bundeskartellamt investigation following a search of company premises in September 2017. voestalpine supported the Bundeskartellamt investigation from the start and has cooperated in full. The affected enterprises also included the Dillinger Hüttenwerke, Ilsenburger Grobblech, and thyssenkrupp Steel Europe.

What is currently the world’s largest pilot plant for the CO₂-neutral production of hydrogen has successfully commenced operation at the voestalpine site in Linz, simultaneously setting an international milestone in the advancement of new energy supply options. As part of the EU-funded H2FUTURE project, partners voestalpine, VERBUND, Siemens, Austrian Power Grid, K1-MET and TNO are researching into the industrial production of green hydrogen as a means of replacing fossil fuels in steel production over the long term. 

For the voestalpine Group, the first half of the business year 2019/20 was defined by a substantial dampening of sentiment in its economic environment.

Permanent innovation is essential if voestalpine is to succeed in international and technologically sophisticated markets. The technology group has continuously expanded its research budget over the past decade, raising it by a total of 70 percent. Its current budget of EUR 184 million makes voestalpine one of Austria’s most research-intensive companies. Development focuses on the drive to digitalize the entire value chain, as well as on innovations for the mobility industry and CO₂ reductions in steel production. voestalpine employs more than 700 researchers at 70 Group companies around the world and has secured over 3,000 proprietary patents.

For years the USA has been a key strategic market for voestalpine. With 48 sites in the US and a local workforce of around 3,500 employees, the Group makes a significant contribution to value creation in the country. During his visit to the Styrian voestalpine factory in Kindberg today, Trevor Traina, the United States Ambassador to Austria, expressed his personal interest in the Group’s activities and its economic relations with the USA. A guided tour through the high-tech seamless tubes production facilities was followed by a discussion with voestalpine CEO, Herbert Eibensteiner, and voestalpine Management Board Member and Head of the Metal Engineering Division, Franz Kainersdorfer.

voestalpine has successfully placed its first syndicated sustainability loan (Environmental Social Governance, ESG) for EUR 1 billion with its 13 most important banking partners. This sustainability loan runs to 2024 and replaces the previous loan which was also syndicated, i.e. financed by a group of banks. This makes the technology group one of the first companies in the industry to issue such an ESG-linked syndicated loan, the interest rate for which will also be linked to the Group’s sustainability performance. The ESG rating is issued by Sustainalytics, the leading global ESG ratings agency which has been measuring corporate sustainability for over 25 years.

The Management Board of voestalpine AG adopted a resolution today to call the entire issue of Hybrid Bond 2013 with a volume of EUR 500 million (ISIN AT0000A0ZHF1) (issued by voestalpine AG in 2013) in accordance with § 5 (2) of the terms and conditions effective on the first possible call date for this bond, namely 31 October 2019 (redemption date).

voestalpine AG hereby announces that a shareholder has filed an action for rescission of the resolution adopted at the Annual General Meeting of voestalpine AG on July 3, 2019 electing Dr. Wolfgang Eder to the Supervisory Board of voestalpine AG. 

As far as the voestalpine Group is concerned, the macroeconomic environment has clouded over significantly since the start of the business year 2019/20. By and large, this is due to the fallout from the international trade conflicts and the associated, growing weakness of the global economy, which affects above all Europe’s export-oriented industries, and the slumping automotive industry in particular.

Pursuant to the proposal of both the Management Board and the Supervisory Board, the 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of voestalpine AG today resolved a dividend of EUR 1.10 per share for the business year 2018/19. This year’s AGM also saw Herbert Eibensteiner take over as Chairman of the Management Board from Wolfgang Eder who, in turn, was elected to the Supervisory Board, the Group’s highest corporate body, along with four other new members as part of the reconstitution of the Supervisory Board.

A new contract with Rolls-Royce, a world-leading engine manufacturer, again draws on high-performance materials from voestalpine. As a new European producer, the Group’s High Performance Metals Division supplies highly sophisticated pre-materials for engine disks which are required to withstand huge forces during flight. High-tech materials and special forgings from voestalpine are already used in structural, undercarriage, wing, and engine parts in all major models of aircraft, from Airbus and Boeing to Embraer and Bombardier. The Group currently generates revenue of around EUR 400 million in the growing aerospace market, and this figure is expected to increase to EUR 500 million over the medium term.

This year marked the sixth SelectUSA Investment Summit, the country’s largest investment conference, which was held in Washington D.C. from June 10 to 12. As a major European investor in the USA over the past years, voestalpine was also an attendee at this high-level conference. As an international technology group, the company presented its current investment projects at the event, as well as a broad range of training and continuing professional development measures which it offers its local employees in the USA. Today, at the final day of the conference, voestalpine representatives joined other international conference participants in signing the Pledge to America’s Workers, a commitment to expand programs for further training of American skilled workers.

Following the record business year 2017/18, which produced all-time highs with respect to just about every key performance indicator of the voestalpine Group, the business year 2018/19 just ended was characterized by growing political and economic challenges.

Light yet tough, ideal for processing and also recyclable—steel is a material with a future. Ongoing steel development provides the basis for new concepts in mobility, energy, and infrastructure. At its unique pilot facility in Leoben-Donawitz, Austria, voestalpine is now conducting research into the production of new high-performance steels which are subsequently processed into special rails, quality rod wire, and extremely high-resistant OCTG by the Group’s companies in Styria. Over EUR 18 million has been invested in the “Technikum Metallurgie” (TechMet), a metallurgy technical center, which is a complete but miniature steel plant. It represents the largest research investment at this site to date. It will further extend voestalpine’s global technological leadership in sophisticated product solutions in steel.

One year after the groundbreaking ceremony for the world’s most advanced special steel plant, construction work for the EUR 350 million project in Kapfenberg, Styria, is on schedule. After completion of the construction site and associated infrastructure, Group company voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl has now awarded the contract for construction of the hall of the steel plant: Austrian companies Unger Stahlbau Ges.m.b.H, based in Oberwart, Burgenland, and Haslinger Stahlbau GmbH, headquartered in Feldkirchen, Carinthia, will form a consortium to erect the steel construction, which will cover an area of three hectares. The industrial equipment permit for the new plant was issued in March 2019.

The Steel Division of the voestalpine Group supplies its customers around the world with high-tech steel products from its base in Linz. Following former Technical Director Hubert Zajicek’s recent appointment as the new Chairman of the division’s four-member management team, succeeding Herbert Eibensteiner who replaces CEO Wolfgang Eder and assumes the chairmanship of the Group as a whole as of July 3, now the future Technical Director who will take his place in the steel management team has been selected: Helmut Gruber (47), who is currently responsible for the technical management of strip production, will take on the overall technical management from Hubert Zajicek on July 3, 2019, advancing to join the Management Board of voestalpine’s largest division in terms of revenue. The Steel Division is a global leader in its product segments. Its 11,000 employees generated an operating result (EBITDA) of over EUR 900 million with revenue of EUR 4.8 billion in the business year 2017/18.

Following the first six races of the 2018/2019 season which were held outside Europe, the ABB FIA Formula E Championship is now about to enter the second half of the season—where the “voestalpine European Races” are being held for the first time. Ahead of the start of the first of these European races (the Rome race on April 13), Formula E made a pit stop in Vienna today. Formula E driver Lucas di Grassi, Sporting Director Frederic Espinos, and voestalpine CEO Wolfgang Eder jointly presented the new award to recognize the best driver of the “voestalpine European Races”*—as part of the commercial partnership with Formula E. On June 22 in Bern, this very special trophy which was made by voestalpine using an innovative 3D printing technology will be given to the best driver of all five of the European races.

voestalpine AG has successfully placed a new EUR 500 million corporate bond issue in the capital market to provide funding for general corporate financing.

The trend towards lightweight construction has helped materials such as aluminum and plastic to become established in the automotive industry, and they will remain legitimate alternatives to steel during the shift from the combustion engine to the electric motor. Even so, in the growing global industrial sector of electromobility, demand for steel is predicted to remain high or even to increase. This is the conclusion of a study by the German Handelsblatt Research Institute (HRI), commissioned by voestalpine. The development of innovative high- and ultra-high-tensile steel grades also secures the long-term future of steel in the automotive industry, because not only is the material both lightweight and tough, it is also easy to process, can be recycled, and is cost-efficient. Therefore, with its unique combination of materials expertise and processing competence, the technology group voestalpine is also excellently equipped to meet the future demands of the automotive industry, while with its comprehensive expertise it can actively help shape the future of electromobility.

The first half of the business year 2018/19 had started on a solid economic footing for the voestalpine Group, but the business year’s third quarter was already affected by a dampening of economic sentiment overall. For example, by rising prices for raw materials and energy; the first palpable negative effects from the global trade conflicts; and not least the growing escalation of the conflict surrounding Great Britain’s exit from the EU.

With three exciting races outside Europe, the 2018/19 season of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship has already started. The official countdown to the “voestalpine European Races” has now begun, with a pit stop at the voestalpine Stahlwelt in Linz. During the warm-up at the Group’s headquarters, Formula E driver Maximilian Günther, currently one of the greatest talents in motorsport with Austrian roots, and voestalpine CEO Wolfgang Eder together revealed voestalpine’s brand new FIA Formula E Gen2 car. voestalpine supplies all premium automotive manufacturers with high-quality electrical steel and components for e-motors as well as ultralight body parts from its site in Linz.

The preliminary earnings figures for the first nine months of the business year 2018/19 with an EBITDA of around EUR 1.1 billion and an EBIT of around EUR 525 million are below market expectations.