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ThyssenKrupp earnings up

February 13, 2015

German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp has reported a bottom-line profit for the first quarter of its financial year starting in October. The firm said lower material costs were a decisive factor, but problems remained.

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Steelworker Oliver Berg/dpa +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg

ThyssenKrupp announced Friday it logged net earnings of 50 million euros ($57.1 million), following a 65-million-euro loss in the same period a year earlier.

But the company admitted that it had been facing an uphill battle despite its return to positive territory.

It said operating profit rose by about a third to 317 million euros, but added the jump was mainly attributable to cost reductions in the steel division and lower prices for materials.

"The economic environment remains insecure and geopolitical risks are continuously high," ThyssenKrupp Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger said in a statement.

Positive outlook

The company reported Q1 earnings of 79 million euros in its European steel business, after an 18-million-euro profit a year earlier. However, revenues and demand dwindled.

ThyssenKrupp's Americas steel business achieved a balanced operating result thanks to lower raw material costs and higher steel prices.

ThyssenKrupp CEO sees engineering future

The firm said the performance of its VDM and AST subsidiaries, which it took back from Finland's Espoo-based Outokumpu, remained a headache. Hiesinger had long shown an interest in selling the two companies medium-term.

The CEO confirmed an earlier forecast according to which ThyssenKrupp's full-year operating profit would come in at no less than 1.5 billion euros, up from 1.3 billion euros the year before.

Also on Friday, shares in the world's biggest steel company, ArcelorMittal, dipped by 1 percent in early trading after the company said its profit would fall in 2015 rather than improve as previously expected. The firm noted iron ore prices had sapped mining earnings and steel market growth had cooled from last year.

hg/kms (Reuters, dpa)