Voestalpine does not expect recovery in Germany until spring

Voestalpine CEO Herbert Eibensteiner believes that the German economy is unlikely to receive a significant boost before the end of Voestalpine's financial year on March 31, 2025.

“The question of when Germany will recover is certainly an interesting one,” Eibensteiner said during a conference call Wednesday when asked for an assessment. “In our forecast, we do not expect a material improvement for the remainder of our fiscal year.”

Voestalpine's automotive steels are suffering, especially due to ongoing weakness at German automakers, which led the company to adjust its profit forecast a month ago. In contrast, voestalpine is betting on the Chinese automaker's plans for a plant in Hungary. “We would be the closest steel supplier and we are already in discussions with the manufacturer.”
Overall, Europe is voestalpine's weakest market, while its operations in Asia and the United States are generally doing better, executives said. They continue to expect positive performance at the company's overseas plants. In the product segment, they expect continued strong growth in rail infrastructure, aerospace and warehousing.

In the high bay storage sector, voestalpine is currently implementing projects for the Danish retail chain JYSK and the South Korean tire manufacturer Nexen Tire Corporation. For Nexen Tire, voestalpine is building a 50 meter high warehouse in the Czech Republic.

It also points to positive news from a flagship project in the rail infrastructure sector: voestalpine Railway Systems is supplying approximately 260 high-speed turnouts, including maintenance software, for Egypt's first high-speed rail line, the Green Line.