Steelmaker voestalpine profits down by half in third quarter
Vienna - Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG said Wednesday its net profit in the third business quarter fell by more than 50 per cent to 87 million euros (101 million dollars) and announced further job cuts.
Voestalpine said that owing to lower prices, it had to devalue for production materials. This led to a lower operating income of 196 million euros in the quarter ending in December, compared with 258 million euros in the same period of 2007.
Revenue grew by 1.5 per cent to 2.79 billion euros year-on-year. However, sales dropped by around 13.5 per cent cent from the second quarter, as the economic slowdown translated into falling prices and smaller sales volumes.
Voestalpine has laid off nearly 2,000 workers since last October and has put 7,600 of its staff on short-time work. However, the company said in a letter to shareholders that owing to the overall economic situation, further job cuts among the 42,000 employees were to be expected over the coming months.
"From today's perspective it is impossible to estimate the extent to which such measures will be required in the future," voestalpine's management board said in the letter. The board expected "clearly positive" company results for 2009. (dpa)