Following the launch of voestalpine’s image and brand campaign in October 2012, the new “voestalpine unexpected” brand platform puts even greater focus on the company’s people and faces.

The volatile economic trend since the beginning of the year and the recent slowdown of economic consolidation in Europe had an adverse impact on the performance of the voestalpine Group as well. After a solid first quarter of the current business year, the second quarter revealed some vulnerabilities in individual business segments that had not been anticipated in the early part of the summer.

This year you have again the possibility to watch the press conference on the results of the first half year 2013/14 live via internet. This is the first time the streaming will also be in English.

The voestalpine Group is opening one of the world’s most modern cold rolling centers for the production of high quality strip steel in Kematen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria. With an investment of EUR 113 million over the last five years, the new 70,000 m² facility is Böhler-Uddeholm Precision Strip GmbH’s largest production site to date. The company is part of the voestalpine Metal Forming Division which generated revenue of EUR 2.3 billion in the business year 2012/13. The new plant will immediately employ a staff of 160 and will produce 60,000 tons of strip steel annually for use in the manufacture of saws in 70 countries around the world. Over the past decade, the voestalpine Group has invested around EUR 450 million in its nine companies in Lower Austria, securing their future over the long-term.

By 2016, voestalpine Austria Draht will have completed construction of Europe’s most modern wire rolling mill at its Leoben-Donawitz site. The mill will then produce around 550,000 tons of high quality wire rods each year for the automotive and energy sector. The nine-figure investment will secure the long-term future of the Donawitz site, headquarters of the voestalpine Group’s extremely successful Metal Engineering Division. Over the past five years, the Group has already invested more than a billion euros in its eight sites in Styria. During the last business year, around 8,000 employees in the Metal Engineering and Special Steel Divisions in Styria generated revenue of EUR 3.3 billion. 800 new jobs were created and 360 apprentices trained in the region in 2012.

voestalpine, the steel-based technology and capital goods Group, is again improving its market position in the special steel segment with the opening of a state-of-the-art duo reversing rolling stand for the production of premium steel plates in Mürzzuschlag on September 20. This is the largest single investment thus far for the Special Steel Division, which is headed by Franz Rotter, at the location of the Styrian plant of Böhler Bleche GmbH & Co KG, a voestalpine Group company. The company invested a total of EUR 11.6 million in this expansion, which will raise the annual production volume of premium materials to 26,000 tons in the future.

The voestalpine Group announced today that over the next three years it will gradually sell its 38.5% interest in VA Intertrading to an investor. Due to a lack of synergies and divergent strategies, recently there has been no business relationship between the voestalpine Group and VA Intertrading. For the business year 2012, revenue at VA Intertrading amounted to around EUR 1.3 billion (2011: EUR 1.1 billion). VA Intertrading is a free commodity trader, dealing mainly in steel as well as food and animal feed.Bereich Stahl sowie Nahrungs- und Futtermittel.

Despite the definite cooling of the macroeconomic environment in the most important global economic regions, the voestalpine Group’s performance continued to be stable both as far as revenue and results are concerned. It is especially gratifying that voestalpine’s workforce has reached a new record figure of 47,154 employees.

Today, the German Cartel Office ended the still open "private market" part of the rail cartel case by imposing a fine following the July 5, 2012 settlement of the earlier part of the proceedings related to deliveries of rail tracks and rail equipment to Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company.

After deciding to locate the plant on the La Quinta Trade Gateway in San Patricio County near Corpus Christi, Texas (USA) and signing the memorandum of understanding with its first customer, Mexican company AHMSA, voestalpine has taken another step toward the realization of the planned direct reduction plant. As the technology decision was made in favor of the MIDREX process, a supply agreement was signed yesterday evening with Siemens Industry Inc. and its consortium partner, Midrex Technologies Inc. This means that, contingent on the final official permits, the green light has been given for the construction of the new direct reduction plant.

At the 21st Annual General Shareholder’s Meeting of voestalpine AG today, Wednesday, July 3, 2013, a dividend of EUR 0.90 per dividend-bearing share was approved for the business year 2012/13. The shareholders acted on the relevant recommendation by the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. The dividend shall be paid out starting on July 15.

This year you have again the possibility to watch the Annual General Meeting via internet. The event where the Management Board of voestalpine AG will present the results of the financial year 2012/13, will be held on 3rd July 2013 at 10:00 am in the Design Center Linz.

The voestalpine Group’s slightly lower revenue in the business year 2012/13 that went from EUR 12.1 billion to EUR 11.5 billion (a drop of 4.4%) is due to the overall economic downtrend but is especially the result of lower pre-material costs. There were substantial price declines for iron ore and coke/coal, which were passed on to the customers.

The voestalpine Group is driving its growth strategy forward with another acquisition, purchasing the Italian company Trafilerie di Cittadella S.p.a/FILEUR, based in Cittadella. The company is specialized in the production of seamless flux cored wire, employs a staff of around 60 and generated annual revenue of EUR 13.7 million in 2012. For voestalpine, this acquisition represents an additional strengthening of its already extensive welding technologies portfolio.

In March the decision was taken to locate the voestalpine Group’s direct reduction plant on the La Quinta Trade Gateway in San Patricio County, just outside the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. The plant is designed for an annual capacity of two million tons of HBI (hot briquetted iron) and has direct deep-sea access to the Gulf of Mexico. There is significant interest from potential customers in the sponge iron produced at the plant. Now the first potential customer has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase HBI. From 2016 onwards, Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA), Mexico’s largest steel manufacturer, will source several hundred thousand tons of high quality HBI from the new voestalpine location annually. Discussions are underway with a series of other interested parties, some of which are already at an advanced stage.

In order to optimize its financing portfolio, voestalpine AG has invited all holders of the hybrid bond 2007 to submit offers for an exchange into the new hybrid bond 2013 with a volume of up to EUR 500 million.

“Despite the fact that the economic environment continues to be challenging, the voestalpine Group was able to maintain its revenue during the first nine months of the current business year at a largely stable level and keep the decline of the operating result down within narrow bounds,” stated Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of voestalpine AG. From April 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012, the Group’s revenue was EUR 8.7 billion, a moderate drop of 2.5% (EUR 8.9 billion in 2011/12) in a year-to-year comparison.