In Q3 Klockner & Co increased shipments to 1.1 million tons, up 2.8% on the prior-year quarter and up by 3.4% to 3.4 million mt in the first nine months of 2024, the Company announced on Nov 6 in its earnings.
The year-on-year shipments increase is mainly due to the acquisitions in Mexico and the US, but due to the lower steel prices, the company’s sales fell to Eur1.6 billion in Q3 down from the Eur1.8 billion recorded in the same period of 2023 and down by 3.8% to Eur5.1 billion in the first nine months of the year.
Despite the continued weak demand in Europe and the steel price correction during large parts of the reporting period, Klockner & Co expects an overall positive fiscal year 2024.
Klöckner & Co continues to forecast EBITDA between Eur120 million and Eur180 million and expects a strong and significantly positive cash flow from operating activities, although this is likely to be below the prior-year level. From January to September the company’s EBITDA reached Eur179 million, down by Eur86million resect the same period of the year before.
“In a challenging market environment, we have made major progress in implementing our Group strategy,” Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE said. “Through targeted investment in selected sites in the US and Germany, we have been able to expand the higher value-added processing and metalworking business.. In addition, winning the German Sustainability Award once again is a great confirmation of our success in decarbonizing the steel industry.”
Klockner & Co expanded its higher value-added business, in the US, targeted investments have enabled the Charlotte and Dallas sites to evolve from a pure distribution operation to a higher value-added fabrication and metalworking operation. Further progress was also made in Germany, for example with the investment in a fully automated sawing and drilling system in Landsberg, aiming to increase Klöckner & Co’s profitability and reduce its dependence on volatile commodity markets.
On digitalization and automation the quantity of digital quotes increased by more than 27% in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous years the company continues in its progress towards its vision of “zero-touch” and minimum manual intervention.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed hot-rolled coils, down in Q3 from Eur635/mt registered on July 1 to Eur545/mt recorded on Sept 30.
Since the beginning of the year, HRC prices dropped by Eur135/mt from Eur690/mt registered on Jan 02 to Eur555/mt ex-works Ruhr November 5, down Eur5 on the day.
Klockner & Co SE is one of the largest producer-independent distributors of steel and metal products and one of the world’s leading steel service center companies. With its distribution and service network of around 120 sites, primarily in North America and the “DACH” region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Klockner & Co supplies more than 60,000 customers.
