EANS-News: voestalpine reports increasing revenue and excellent earnings in the business year 2016/17 after exceptional fourth quarter

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Financial Figures/Balance Sheet

Linz - Against the backdrop of a macroeconomic environment with a moderate
growth trend, that was surprisingly resistant against political turbulences
(Brexit, Trump, Turkey,...), voestalpine was able to step up its earnings
performance over the course of the business year 2016/17 and after an
outstanding fourth quarter surpassed last year's figures on a clean basis
(excluding exceptional items from changes of consolidation in the previous
business year 2015/16): EBITDA clean: +6.6% YoY, EBIT clean: +3.1% YoY. Under
IFRS, including the exceptional items in business year 2015/16, the earnings
figures showed a somewhat declining development (EBITDA: -2.7% YoY, EBIT: -7.4%
YoY) while revenues slightly increased (+2.0% YoY). This development was based
on the consistently positive performance of the automotive industry and a
stable and robust economic situation in the consumer goods sector. The
aerospace industry also continued its positive trend, while the construction
sector still reported rather modest tendencies. In the second half of 2016, the
railway infrastructure sector was faced with an increasingly weakening demand
in Europe, which continued into the beginning of 2017. In comparison, after a
longer lean period, the oil and gas industry saw recovery tendencies in the
course of the year that continued to strengthen in the last business quarter.
Looking at the single divisions, in particular the development of the Steel
Division stood out with earnings rising close to 20% (EBIT: +19.6% YoY, EBITDA:
+17.9% YoY), but also the High Performance Metals Division (former Special
Steel Division) as well as the Metal Forming Division were able to achieve
remarkable increases of their financial results (EBIT: +11.2% YoY, EBITDA:
+8.5% YoY, respectively EBIT: +8.3% YoY, EBITDA: +9.1% YoY). Merely the Metal
Engineering Division had to accept declining earnings (EBIT clean: -13.6% YoY,
EBITDA clean: -6.1% YoY) due to the weakness in the oil- and gas-business as
well as the slowdown of the railway infrastructure business over the course of
the business year, whereas it has to be mentioned, that the division was even
in this difficult environment able to achieve excellent margins (EBIT-margin
clean: 8.1%, EBITDA-margin: 13.4%), which are still on average level of the
voestalpine Group (EBIT-margin clean: 7.4%, EBITDA-margin: 13.6%). Based on
this economic trend, the voestalpine Group should record strong revenue and
earnings in the first half of the new business year, with figures significantly
higher than in the same period of the previous year. However, the economic
trend in the second half of the business year will only be able to be assessed
in concrete terms after the coming summer. In light of the fact that a number
of recent major investments - such as the HBI plant in Texas, USA, the new wire
production in Leoben/Donawitz, Austria, and several downstream investments in
Europe, the USA and China - will be fully included in the voestalpine Group's
revenue and earnings for the first time in the course of the business year, a
clearly positive revenue and earnings development is expected from today's
perspective despite uncertainties in the outlook for the voestalpine Group in
second half of the business year 2017/18.

Quarterly development of the voestalpine Group

BY
In millions 1st     2nd     3rd     4th quarter
of euros    quarter quarter quarter 2016/17     2016/17    2015/16  Change in %
            2016/17 2016/17 2016/17
Revenue     2,772.4 2,635.4 2,693.4 3,193.3     11,294.5   11,068.7 2.0
EBITDA      333.9   371.0   356.2   479.6       1,540.7    1,583.4  -2.7
EBITDA      12.0%   14.1%   13.2%   15.0%       13.6%      14.3%
margin
EBIT        167.6   201.3   176.1   278.3       823.3      888.8    -7.4
EBIT margin 6.0%    7.6%    6.5%    8.7%        7.3%       8.0%
Profit      138.9   172.5   150.0   238.5       699.9      751.3    -6.8
before tax
Profit      105.8   127.9   110.2   183.1       527.0      602.1    -12.5
after tax1
Employees
(full-time  48,319  48,786  48,765  49,703      49,703     48,367   2.8
equivalent)

1)Before deduction of non-controlling interests and interest on hybrid capital.

Quarterly development of the voestalpine Group, adjusted

BY
In millions 1st     2nd     3rd     4th quarter
of euros    quarter quarter quarter 2016/17     2016/17    2015/16  Change in %
            2016/17 2016/17 2016/17
Revenue     2,772.4 2,635.4 2,693.4 3,193.3     11,294.5   11,068.7 2.0
EBITDA      333.9   371.0   356.2   479.6       1,540.7    1,445.8  6.6
EBITDA      12.0%   14.1%   13.2%   15.0%       13.6%      13.1%
margin
EBIT        171.5   204.9   179.7   283.8       839.9      814.4    3.1
EBIT margin 6.2%    7.8%    6.7%    8.9%        7.4%       7.4%
Profit      142.8   176.1   153.5   244.1       716.5      676.8    5.9
before tax
Profit      108.7   130.6   112.9   187.2       539.4      509.8    5.8
after tax1
Employees
(full-time  48,319  48,786  48,765  49,703      49,703     48,367   2.8
equivalent)

1)Before deduction of non-controlling interests and interest on hybrid capital.

Further inquiry note:
DI Peter Fleischer
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +43/50304/15-9949
Fax:  +43/50304/55-5581
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.voestalpine.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer:       voestalpine AG voestalpine-Straße 1 A-4020 Linz
phone:        +43 50304/15-9949
FAX:          +43 50304/55-5581
mail:         [email protected]
WWW:          www.voestalpine.com
ISIN:         AT0000937503
indexes:      WBI, ATX
stockmarkets: Wien
language:     English

ORIGINAL APA-OTS TEXT - THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS SUBJECT TO THE EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ISSUER | CNE

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