Annual Report 2005/06 - voestalpine

Divisional Reports
Annual Report 2005/06
theless affect the business performance of
the Division Automotive and made additional
restructuring measures necessary in
order to adjust to the new circumstances.
However, those activities, where the divisional
companies have technological and
product-specific unique selling points or
specialized expertise, have not been directly
affected by insourcing. These include
the production and processing of laserwelded
blanks, in particular, as well as special
safety and precision tubing parts. The
business performance in these segments
continues to be very satisfactory, contrary
to the general economic situation of the industry.
DevelopmenT oF The
Key FigUres
Considering the challenging market environment,
the overall development of the
Division Automotive in the 2005/06 business
year was quite satisfactory. Compared to the
previous year, both sales and profits rose
substantially.
An increase of revenues from EUR 788.0
million to EUR 848.6 million corresponds to
a plus of 7.7%. This growth can be mainly
attributed to organic growth, but also to the
consolidation of the German companies
voestalpine HTI GmbH and the voestalpine
Vollmer Group which were acquired in April
2005. The division’s blanks group (production
of laser-welded blanks for the body-inwhite
segment), with its production sites in
Linz and Torino, was able to increase its
revenue by more than 7% compared to the
record figures of the previous year. The
voestalpine Rotec Group, which specializes
in the production of special safety components
and precision tubing parts and which
has sites in Europe and North America,
posted a significant gain.
In contrast, the sales figures of the
voestalpine Polynorm Group, whose production
is focused on the segment of large press
parts and components and which has production
companies in the Netherlands, Germany,
and the USA, were below those of the
previous year as a result of the previously
mentioned trend toward insourcing in these
segments by the OEMs and the generally
challenging market situation in both Europe
and North America.
With regard to profits, the 2005/06 business
year continued to improve for the Division
Automotive. The profit (EBIT) went up by
33.8% compared to the previous year from
EUR 29.4 million to EUR to 39.3 million.
Accordingly, the EBIT margin increased
markedly from 3.7% to 4.6%. This is not only
the highest figure since the division was