On the back of high market prices, Europe’s largest steel distributor, thyssenkrupp Materials Services, lifted revenue in the third fiscal quarter (April-June) by 46% year-on-year to €4.8 billion ($4.9 billion).
At €386 million, adjusted Ebit was also significantly above the prior-year level of €232m. The order intake rose by 13% to €4.1 billion, lower than the revenue figure, which points to saturation in the customer groups, Kallanish believes.
The increase in income was achieved against the trend of lower volumes, which were down to 2.3 million tonnes, from 2.4mt in the previous-year quarter. The company reports a declining trend in the European and North American service centre business, and in warehousing. The direct-to-customer business at the Materials Trading unit saw slightly positive growth due to new business in Singapore, the company notes.
In the current fiscal year, the main emphasis of activities continues to be on sharpening the focus of locations and on profitable growth in North America, tk Materials says. In the first nine months, the company closed a total of 12 warehouse sites and drove forward its major investment projects at sites in the USA.
In addition, it is focusing on the AI-based expansion of digital supply chain solutions and the further enhancement of sustainable products and services, such as the carbon footprint calculator product, it says.
Christian Koehl Germany
