Stainless Steel Me

German based steel maker ThyssenKrupp announced a big change in fortune’s compared to last year when it announced big losses for Q3 earnings before taxes showed a loss of €987 million compared to the previous year of €2297 million. The company blamed the global recession for a slump in demand and hefty price falls.

Highlights as below:-

The highlights for the first 9 months 2008/2009:

• Order intake decreased by 31% to €28.5 billion compared with the first 9 months of the previous fiscal year.
• Sales fell by 23% to €30.7 billion.
• EBITDA came to €726 million, compared with €3,646 million in the prior year.
• Earnings before taxes declined from €2,297 million in the prior year to €(987) million.
• Earnings per share dropped from €3.06 to €(1.73).
• Net financial debt at June 30, 2009 was €3,122 million, an increase of €1,538 million compared with September 30, 2008, when we reported net financial debt of €1,584 million. On June 30, 2008, net financial debt stood at €2,127 million. Compared with March 31, 2009 net financial debt decreased by €565 million.

Outlook

Outlook

We expect a significant drop in order intake and sales for full fiscal year 2008/2009. This will be reflected in earnings. Price and volume declines will be only partly offset by falling input material prices and sustained efforts to enhance efficiency. In addition, targeted steps are being taken to significantly reduce net working capital. We are also carrying out measures to reduce or postpone our investment program and implementing portfolio optimizations.

ThyssenKrupp expects to end the current fiscal year with a loss before taxes and major nonrecurring items – restructuring costs, impairment charges and project costs – in the upper three-digit million euro range.

Earnings before taxes will be considerably impacted by restructuring expense for our cost reduction programs and the reorganization. However, these measures will play a decisive role in significantly strengthening the future earning power of the Group. Impairment charges and project costs for the new steel plants will also have a major impact on earnings before taxes.

For more details and the full announcement go to ThyssenKrupp