EANS-News: Coronavirus pandemic has a significant economic impact on voestalpine and its customers Short-time work in Austria and other European countries unavoidable
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Company Information
Linz - The coronavirus pandemic and its consequences are facing voestalpine with
major economic challenges. As a result of massive reductions in capacity and
current production shutdowns in the automotive, aerospace, mechanical
engineering, and oil & natural gas industries, in just a few days demand in the
key voestalpine customer segments has collapsed. In order to meet the required
level of flexibility over the next weeks and to secure jobs at the Group as far
as possible during this difficult situation, currently short-time work is being
registered in around 50 European Group companies (in Austria as well as in
Germany, Belgium, and France).
The coronavirus and its direct consequences are having a severe impact on the
global economy. Consequently, voestalpine will immediately fall back on the
short-time work model in Austria, introduced by the Federal Government in
response to the corona crisis and which enables a temporary reduction in normal
working hours, for almost all the Group companies in Austria, and, depending
upon the respective regulations, will take advantage of similar models being
offered right across Europe. The actual extent of short-time work will become
clear over the next weeks, and will be determined by the levels of capacity
utilization in production. voestalpine will implement alternative measures as
appropriate in countries where no such short-time work models are available.
Several sites in countries including France, Italy, Peru, Brazil, and the USA
have already been temporarily closed. The Management Board is using these
measures to minimize the negative impact on employees and voestalpine as far as
possible. From the current viewpoint, the impact on the results for the current
business year 2019/2020 cannot be sufficiently determined.
"When our customers significantly reduce their level of demand, stop production,
and supply chains temporarily come to a standstill, we need to react promptly,"
explains Herbert Eibensteiner, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine
AG. voestalpine is currently making major efforts to protect the health of those
employees still working in production. "In these difficult times, my particular
thanks goes to those who are still hard at work in production. They are making a
vital contribution to maintaining our critical infrastructure at many plants. In
other areas, too, the tireless efforts of many employees are proving vital in
helping to keep our company going. Over the next months we will need to fight
hard for every single job."
Short-time work is a first step in mastering the economic crisis created by the
coronavirus
The abrupt slump in customer demand is forcing the company to reduce production
in specific areas. This includes reducing pig iron capacity at the site in Linz
by around 20%, by temporarily shutting down a small blast furnace. "The
coronavirus pandemic is facing voestalpine with its greatest economic challenge
of the past decade. Registering for short-time work on a large scale across
Europe is designed to achieve the clear objective of retaining our highly
qualified employees within the Group. The Austrian Government's new short-time
work model is a positive and sensible measure in this respect. As an enterprise,
it allows us to respond quickly and in a flexible manner to this unparalleled
crisis," says Eibensteiner. Short-time work has also been registered in Germany,
Belgium, and France. Currently, no compulsory redundancies are planned in
Austria. The numbers of leasing employees will continue to be reduced, and
accumulated overtime and holidays cut back further.
Health is our number one priority
The greatest priority is being given to measures designed to protect the health
of voestalpine employees currently working in production. In addition to strict
hygiene regulations and maintaining a safe distance from others, measures such
as changing shift models have been taken to significantly reduce the physical
presence of employees in operationally critical areas. Where feasible, employees
are working from home.
The voestalpine Group
In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology group
with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. voestalpine,
which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more
than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock
Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using
steel and other metals, it is a leading partner of the automotive and consumer
goods industries as well as of the aerospace and oil & gas industries.
voestalpine is also the world market leader in complete railway systems as well
as in tool steel and special sections. In the business year 2018/19, the Group
generated revenue of EUR 13.6 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR
1.6 billion; it had just under 52,000 employees worldwide.
Please direct your inquiries to
voestalpine AG
Peter Felsbach
Head of Group Communications/Spokesman
voestalpine-Strasse 1
4020 Linz, Austria
T. +43/50304/15-2090
peter.felsbach@voestalpine.comwww.voestalpine.com [http://www.voestalpine.com/]
Further inquiry note:
Peter Fleischer
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +43/50304/15-9949
Fax: +43/50304/55-5581
mailto:peter.fleischer@voestalpine.com
http://www.voestalpine.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: voestalpine AG
voestalpine-Straße 1
A-4020 Linz
phone: +43 50304/15-9949
FAX: +43 50304/55-5581
mail: IR@voestalpine.com
WWW: www.voestalpine.com
ISIN: AT0000937503
indexes: ATX, WBI
stockmarkets: Wien
language: English