thyssenkrupp stock jumps: thyssenkrupp HR director receives contract extension – dividend payment planned despite expected decline in profits

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The supervisory board extended the appointment of the 50-year-old, which was limited until the end of September 2023, by five years until the end of September 2028, as the industrial and steel group announced. Burkhard has been a member of the Executive Board of the Essen MDAX Group since February 2013, Labor Director of thyssenkrupp AG since April 2013 and CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems since May 2022.

thyssenkrupp expects a significant drop in profits

After making billions in profits in the past fiscal year, the industrial group thyssenkrupp expects business to cool down considerably. The company announced on Thursday in Essen that falling steel prices and rising costs, especially for materials and energy, are likely to cause sales and profits to fall in 2022/23. The first signs of braking were already evident in the fourth quarter.

The management around CEO Martina Merz expects a significant decline in sales for the current fiscal year (as of the end of September). In addition to the price effects, the sale of parts of the business is also noticeable. In the previous year, revenues had climbed by a good fifth to 41.1 billion euros. The adjusted operating result (EBIT) is expected to fall to a value in the mid to high three-digit million euro range, after 2.1 billion euros in 2021/22. And thyssenkrupp also assumes significant losses in net income – this should only be “at least” balanced.

Last year, thyssenkrupp benefited from significant price increases in the steel and trading business and, on balance, achieved a profit jump to 1.2 billion euros, after a small loss in the previous year. This includes more than 500 million euros in value adjustments in connection with the increased interest rates and the associated higher capital costs. For shareholders, this means the end of a long dry spell. After three years of failure, thyssenkrupp wants to pay a dividend again for the first time. EUR 0.15 per share is proposed.

In the fourth quarter, incoming orders fell by more than a quarter to 10.4 billion euros. Sales growth leveled off and was still 12 percent at 10.7 billion euros. Adjusted EBIT fell by more than 30 percent to 161 million euros. The bottom line is that thyssenkrupp was able to increase profits – but also benefited from sales gains, among other things.

“The figures show that we have made good progress in restructuring thyssenkrupp and have been able to significantly increase the operational performance of the businesses,” said CEO Merz. The company has built up “resilience and substance”. “Our momentum in the change process was slowed down, but we were able to withstand three external shocks – pandemic, semiconductor shortage and war – relatively robustly.”

In addition to the higher prices, the ongoing restructuring program to increase profitability and competitiveness also bore fruit in the past financial year. Among other things, this also provides for the elimination of a total of almost 13,000 jobs. Almost 10,000 of these jobs have now been lost, thyssenkrupp said. “We are slowly leaving the restructuring phase necessary for the conversion behind us and can concentrate on focused and “normal” increases in productivity,” commented Human Resources Director Oliver Burkhard.

The sale of peripheral areas is also progressing. After thyssenkrupp divested itself of its AST stainless steel plant, the mining business and the infrastructure sector in the past fiscal year, thereby generating more than 800 million euros, the group is in talks about further sales. The focus is on the Automation Engineering division, which bundles the business related to drive and battery assembly. In addition, preparations are underway for a sales process for the springs and stabilizers business.

For the hydrogen business Nucera, thyssenkrupp still prefers an IPO – depending on the capital market environment. Most recently, the group had put the plans on hold due to market volatility. thyssenkrupp also wants to decide on the further development of chemical and cement plant construction.

thyssenkrupp titles temporarily gain 2.79 percent to 5.76 euros in XETRA trading.

FRANKFURT / EAT (Dow Jones / dpa-AFX)

Image sources: thyssenkrupp AG