Voestalpine is working to implement cost savings and efficiency optimization programs to mitigate fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the company still anticipates that its 2019/20 bottom line will be adversely affected.
The firm will reduce inventory, optimize cash flow, and shelve investment plans save for the construction of a new steel plant in Kapfenberg.
In December 2019, hampered by changes in the global economy, trade wars, and Europe’s declining role within a continuous industrial value chain, the company announced non-recurring write-offs of $295mn during the third quarter of the 2019/20 year. Six thousand of its 8,300 employees are presently on short-time work orders.
According to Herbert Eibensteiner, Voestalpine’s chief executive officer, despite the global crisis, the company will still restart some of its core segments, including automotive. With the Austrian government’s resuming economic activities, he believes an order to recommence industrial production will soon follow.