EANS-News: Salzgitter AG
Key data of the financial year 2010
Having staged a successful turnaround, the Salzgitter Group returns to a stable uptrend
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
annual result/key data
Subtitle: Having staged a successful turnaround, the Salzgitter Group returns to a stable uptrend
Salzgitter (euro adhoc) - The Salzgitter Group benefited notably from the economic upswing in 2010. As a result, capacity utilization across all product segments returned to a high level and the selling prices of many products gradually recovered. Steady progress was made with the extensive EUR 1.7 billion investment program of the Steel Division, with all major projects being lead to completion. The programs implemented to optimize costs and raise performance had a gratifying impact. Acting on the basis of an extremely sound financial position and a healthy balance sheet, with an equity ratio of 44 % and EUR 1.3 billion in net cash, the Salzgitter Group - having achieved turnaround this year - considers itself to be well equipped to exploit market opportunities to the full and to master future challenges successfully.
External sales by Division (EUR million):
FY 2010 (FY 2009) Steel 2,268.6 (1,673.6) Trading 2,958.2 (3,038.7) Tubes 1,736.1 (2,044.6) Services 413.1 (302.9) Technology 872.9 (717.6) Other/Consolidation 55.9 (40.6) Group 8,304.6 (7,818.0)
Earnings before tax by Division (EUR million):
FY 2010 (FY 2009) Steel -100.6 (-373.5) Trading 71.4 (-128.0) Tubes 59.9 (104.0) Services 26.2 (8.2) Technology -30.3 (-210.4) Other/Consolidation 22.3 (103.3) Group 48.9 (-496.5)
The accuracy of the Salzgitter Group´s planning is restricted by the extreme volatility of the cost of raw materials and shorter contractual durations, both on the procurement and on the sales side. Moreover, the risks remain considerable, as before: alongside the foreseeable increase in the cost of raw materials, the sustainability of the uptrend in the steel and mechanical engineering markets is still subject to uncertainties. Based on the developments forecast by the individual divisions for our Group, we anticipate an increase in consolidated sales of between 15 % and 20 % and a pre-tax profit which is more than double in 2011 - both figures in comparison with 2010. As in recent years, we make reference to the fact that opportunities and risks from currently unforeseeable trends in selling prices, input materials and capacity level developments, as well as changes in the currency parity, may considerably affect performance in the course of the financial year 2011. The resulting fluctuation in the consolidated pre-tax result may, as current events show, be within a considerable range, either to the positive or to the negative. The dimensions of this range become clear if one considers that, with around 12 million tons of steel products sold by the Steel, Trading and Tubes divisions, an average EUR 25 contraction in the margin per ton is sufficient to cause a variation in the annual result of more than EUR 300 million.
end of announcement euro adhoc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further inquiry note:
Bernhard Kleinermann
Tel.: +49 (0) 5341-21-3783
E-Mail: kleinermann.b@salzgitter-ag.de
Branche: Iron & Steel
ISIN: DE0006202005
WKN: 620200
Index: Midcap Market Index, MDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All
Share
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
Hamburg / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade
Düsseldorf / free trade
Hannover / free trade
München / free trade
Original content of: Salzgitter AG, transmitted by news aktuell