Voestalpine shares rise on full-year guidance, 4th quarter earnings
Updates with 4th quarter, share move, adds analyst quotes in paragraphs 5-6, update on Buderus sale in paragraph 8
By Chiara Holzhaeuser
June 5 (Reuters) -Austrian steelmaker VoestalpineVOES.VI reported its core annual earnings fell by about a third as expected, but its better-than-expected fourth-quarter performance and outlook lifted the group's shares by as much as 5.46% on Wednesday.
Voestalpine, shares traded up 3.2% at 1050 GMT after the group reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) of 1.67 billion euros ($1.81 billion) for the financial year to March 31.
That was broadly in line with analysts' forecasts in a poll by Vara Research, but fourth-quarter EBITDA just shy of 400 million euros was ahead of the 342.7 million euro consensus forecast.
Voestalpine also forecast core earnings of 1.7 billion to 1.8 billion euros for the 2024/25 business year.
"A solid set of full year 2023/24 numbers," said Christian Obst, analyst at Baader Helvea, adding that "even the low end of the EBITDA guidance for the new business year 2024/25 is a bit above the consensus average".
Maxime Kogge, analyst at Oddo BHF, also noted strong cash generation that helped the company's net debt to decrease to about 1.65 billion euros.
The 2023/2024 core earnings result reflected the sale of steel tool unit Buderus and restructuring at its German automotive components business, changes which resulted in negative one-off effects worth 428 million euros.
In a conference call, the company said it was in contact with potential buyers for Buderus but would not disclose any details of the transaction.
Voestalpine, which supplies steel products to customers such as the automotive and aerospace industry, still expects subdued economic growth in Europe this year but said potential interest rate cuts could lead to an upturn in the second half.
It proposed a dividend of 0.70 euros subject to approval at its annual general meeting in July, down from 1.50 euros a year ago.
Based on earnings per share, it noted that this translated to a payout of about 120%.
($1 = 0.9206 euros)
Reporting by Chiara Holzhaeuser; editing by Christopher Cushing, Jason Neely and Tomasz Janowski
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