HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) – The Aurubis copper group is threatened with damage in the hundreds of millions as a result of extensive metal thefts. Therefore, on Thursday evening, the company canceled its profit forecast for the 2022/23 financial year, which runs until the end of September. The steelmaker Salzgitter, which holds almost 30 percent in Aurubis, also suspended its annual forecast. Both companies’ shares came under severe pressure on Friday.
In the index of medium-sized stocks, the MDax, Aurubis shares collapsed to EUR 62.50. They last cost less in early November 2022. Later in the morning, the share certificates were still 14 percent down at EUR 65.50. For 2023, there is also a minus of around 14 percent on the price list. In the SDax small-cap index, Salzgitter shares fell by 5.7 percent to EUR 25.66.
According to a statement on Thursday evening, Aurubis found “significant deviations from the target stock during the regular check of the metal inventory as well as deviations from special samples of certain deliveries of input materials in the recycling area”. This is likely to be the result of further criminal acts – going beyond the cases published in June 2023. The State Criminal Police Office was involved.
The extent of the damage is still uncertain, an extraordinary inventory is running. Results are expected by the end of September. However, damage in the low, three-digit million euro range is within the realm of possibility. The operating pre-tax profit of EUR 450 to 550 million previously targeted for the current financial year can therefore not be achieved.
After the new problems at its stake became known, the Salzgitter steel group also withdrew its earnings forecast for the current year on Friday. So far, the management around CEO Gunnar Groebler had promised a significant decline in pre-tax earnings to 300 to 400 million euros for 2023 due to falling steel prices and lower demand. In the previous year, the group had achieved 1.25 billion here.
Only in June did it become known that a gang of thieves had been stealing intermediate products containing precious metals from Aurubis for years. The public prosecutor’s office was able to obtain arrest warrants of over 20 million euros, with the amount of damage caused to Aurubis still being determined, it was said at the time. As a company spokeswoman told the Bloomberg news agency, the cases were probably not related, but that was not entirely clear.
Accordingly, in the current case, individual suppliers of recycling material may have manipulated details of the goods deliveries. Apparently, employees in the sample and analysis department would have helped to cover this up. In the production process, however, it was found that certain quantities of metal were missing.
However, the financial damage has no impact on Aurubis’ expansion plans. As has been known for a long time, the Hamburg-based company wants to invest around 1.1 billion euros in the USA, Bulgaria and Germany by 2026. The recycling plant in Richmond (USA), where production is scheduled to start later in 2024, should then make the largest contribution to profits from the current growth projects. Scrap metal recycling is booming in the USA.
Aurubis is also focusing on battery recycling, which is becoming increasingly important in the age of electromobility. The exam is running. However, a decision should only be made in the medium term./mis/nas/jha/
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