Materials Services

Order intake and sales

Order intake and sales at Materials Services decreased in the past fiscal year due to economic challenges. In the case of key products such as stainless and finished steel, both prices and volumes were lower than in the prior year. Moreover, demand in Europe was weak overall. The main negative drivers were the warehousing business in Europe, the automotive-related service centers and the international trading business. By contrast, the warehousing business in North America grew, mainly due to the expansion of the service and manufacturing businesses. At 7.6 million tons, the sales of materials and raw materials were around 6.6% lower overall than in the prior year (8.2 million tons).

Adjusted EBIT

All three business units made a positive contribution to adjusted EBIT although this was below the prior-year figure due to market-related developments. The largest positive contribution came from the supply chain business, part of the Solutions business unit. Additional support came from APEX measures with far-reaching effects – such as restructuring measures in Germany with the goal of improving the cost base. During the reporting period, there were further positive effects from the renegotiation of contracts with major customers and the resulting more favorable terms, as well as initiatives to grow higher-margin sales in the North American service and manufacturing businesses.

Special items

Most of the special items in the past fiscal year resulted from asset impairment losses or were in connection with restructuring measures. These negative impacts outweighed the positive special items from the sale of land. Overall, negative special items amounted to €50 million.

Investments

Investing activities in the past fiscal year were dominated mainly by growth projects in North America. One example is the acquisition of Canadian company Cobotix Manufacturing Inc. with the goal of increasing our own capacities in precision metal processing. With the purchase of Luxembourg-based WAVES, we acquired a leading operator of sustainability management platforms. We made other investments in the growth of the North American service business, in the digital transformation and in modernization and maintenance.