Presseaussendungen

In response to the current level of orders in the long steel sector, voestalpine is now once again operating two blast furnaces at the site in Donawitz. One of the two furnaces, which has an annual pig iron production capacity of around 750,000 tons and underwent scheduled interim repairs during summer 2020, was restarted in order to meet the growth in demand. The Metal Engineering Division of the voestalpine Group produces high-quality steel products in Donawitz which are then processed into special rails, high-quality wire rod, and extremely high load-bearing OCTG by the Group’s Styrian subsidiaries.

With its high bay warehousing, produced using self-supporting, highly sophisticated steel profiles and enabling fully digital warehouse management, voestalpine has established itself as an important partner to manufacturing and trading companies around the world. Its projects are wide-ranging and include a warehouse for an online shop run by a well-known Austrian food corporation, high-tech wine racks for a French wine producer, and a warehouse for a global wholesaler of electrical components in Minnesota.

Hubert Zajicek, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the Steel Division, was elected to the Executive Committee of the World Steel Association (worldsteel) at this year’s Annual General Meeting. This makes Zajicek one of the two European members of the worldsteel Executive Committee. worldsteel represents around 85 percent of global steel production and is one of the world’s largest trade associations.

voestalpine has recently joined the FTSE4Good Index family, one of the most well-respected sustainability indexes on the international stock markets. Its inclusion highlights once again the steel and technology group’s clear commitment to sustainable corporate governance and climate protection. It will also allow voestalpine to present itself more strongly to investors and private shareholders in the sustainable investments market. 

The voestalpine Metal Engineering Division produces high-grade steels at its site in Donawitz, for processing into special rails for railway infrastructure, premium wires for the automotive industry, and high-quality seamless tubes for oil & gas exploration. The start-up of a new, fully automated continuous caster will allow the Group to further increase the quality of the steel grades which are used in the manufacture of highly advanced end products. The state-of-the-art facility represents an investment volume of around EUR 90 million and has an annual production capacity of one million tons.

In early September voestalpine will restart the small blast furnace in Linz which has been temporarily shut down since March, following the abrupt slump in customer demand caused by Covid-19. The gradual revival of demand, which is most pronounced in the automotive, electrical, and processing industries, has led to an increased need for high-quality steel grades, making this step possible. The first signs of recovery are also evident in the mechanical engineering and energy segments, for which the site in Linz also produces high quality steel products.

The automotive industry considers the steel and technology group, voestalpine, a technology leader in the production of ultra-high tensile auto parts that are also particularly light. The Group is now applying its lightweight construction expertise to railway systems as well. In cooperation with the Rail Cargo Group, the cargo subsidiary of the Austrian Railways (ÖBB), voestalpine’s Steel Division and Logserv, its logistics subsidiary, have developed “TransANT”—a novel design concept worldwide, specifically, freight cars equipped with a range of lightweight modular superstructures.

In the first quarter of the business year 2020/21 (April 1 to June 30, 2020), voestalpine was affected by the massive meltdown in demand from almost all of its customer segments on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an economically challenging environment, the past business year was a particularly difficult one for voestalpine AG. The steel and technology group is sticking to its long-term and steady dividend policy despite its negative earnings performance. The 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM) today resolved a dividend of EUR 0.20 per share for the business year 2019/20 (down from EUR 1.10 a year earlier). This year’s AGM, which was conducted virtually without the shareholders being physically present, followed the proposal of both the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. The dividend will be paid on July 13, 2020 (ex-dividend date: July 9, 2020).

voestalpine Railway Systems is the global market leader for complete railway infrastructure systems, including rails, turnouts, and digital signaling technology. With the acquisition of a turnout plant in France and new shareholdings in China and Argentina, the Group is expanding its international production capacities in this area. It has even established the first Chinese production facility for turnout monitoring systems. Progressive urbanization, especially in Asia, as well as European efforts to combat climate change mean solid market forecasts for the rail sector in the years ahead.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its global impact will have a negative influence on voestalpine results for the past business year 2019/20, both operationally and as a consequence of one-time effects.