After three quarters of the 2023/24 financial year, turnover fell to 12.4 billion euros, profit after tax fell to 431 million euros – all this and the difficult economic situation now means that Voestalpine is starting to make savings. To reduce costs, an existing package was tightened up.
“The weak economic development in Europe in particular had a negative impact on Voestalpine’s results,” says CEO Herbert Eibensteiner. The answer now is: “We have an ongoing program in which we try to save around 300 million euros in costs every year at Voestalpine. And we have gone a step further,” said the manager.
“The expected economic downturn was clearly noticeable in the first nine months of the current fiscal year,” says Eibensteiner, describing the situation that also poses challenges for Voestalpine. Although the steel group, which operates from Linz, is broadly positioned and can therefore absorb a lot, the company still has to respond to reduced demand in some areas and enormous cost increases.
Less overtime, shorter working hours
The different workloads in the individual factories are responded to accordingly. Eibensteiner speaks about the reduction of the number of temporary workers, less overtime, a reduction in staff at Buderus in Germany and reduction of working hours in individual areas in Germany. “We are launching savings programs across Europe and in merged areas. This is how we adapt to this difficult economic environment.”
Since April, 900 fewer temporary workers have been employed worldwide
There are no major changes in the workforce for the branches in Linz and Styria. “Although we do of course take austerity measures here and there. For example, we are going to hire fewer employees,” says Eibensteiner. Since April 2023, Voestalpine has reduced the number of temporary workers worldwide by 900 people.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
