Thyssenkrupp cashes in on higher steel prices

Thyssenkrupp Group made a good start to its new fiscal year, with significantly better order intake, revenue and earnings in the first fiscal quarter through December 2021. This was driven mainly by steelmaking unit tk Steel Europe and distribution unit tk Materials Services.

These divisions each lifted December-quarter revenue by 39% year-on-year – tk Steel Europe to €2.7 billion ($3.1 billion) and tk Materials Services to €3.3 billion. The increase was achieved despite lower shipments due to the disruption in automotive industry output, with tk Steel deliveries down 6% to 2.28 million tonnes and tk Materials down 9% to 1.18mt.

For the distribution unit, adjusted Ebit of €219 million was also significantly above the prior-year level of €5m. Notably, the order intake here in the December quarter rose by as much as 50%, to €3.7 billion.

Regarding the massive increase in energy costs in recent months, thyssenkrupp AG chief financial officer Klaus Keysberg said during a conference call on Thursday that these are being “partly handed down, partly compensated by measures”. He noted that this has been considered in the group’s altogether positive outlook for the near future. “Forwarding these costs is a key theme for the management,” he said during the call attended by Kallanish.

At tk Materials Services, the main emphasis of activities will be on sharpening the network of locations in North America. In the December quarter, it drove forward major investment projects at sites in the USA and Mexico. In Europe, it plans the expansion of the Veghel location in the Netherlands, with the objective of further consolidating the network in the Benelux region. Its mid-term planning envisages warehouse shipments of more than 6mt worldwide.

Christian Koehl Germany