The new Thyssenkrupp boss Miguel Lopez wants to trim the fluctuating industrial group for returns and does not rule out job cuts. “We have too complex a portfolio. We’re working on that,” the manager said on Thursday at a conference call with journalists. A new performance program should be tightened in the next few weeks. This is necessary in order to achieve the goals promised to the capital market. When asked whether this would include additional job cuts, he replied: “Of course we will analyze the questions you just asked and comment accordingly in due course.” At the moment he cannot say anything about it.
Lopez succeeded Martina Merz in early June. The planned program is not about a new strategy, rather the existing goals have to be achieved first. He confirmed that the steel division and the marine business would become independent. In addition, the group wants to be a reliable dividend payer.
The statements were well received on the market. The share expanded its profits and at times increased by almost five percent. Thyssenkrupp has launched various programs in recent years that also provided for job cuts. According to CFO Klaus Keysberg, 11,000 of a program to cut 13,000 jobs have been implemented. Thyssenkrupp has also significantly reduced the number of its employees by selling businesses, including the elevator division. The group currently employs a good 98,000 people, compared to 162,000 in 2019.
Profit collapses by two-thirds
Lopez commented on the figures for the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. The industrial group has earned significantly less due to weakening steel and materials trading. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), adjusted for special effects, fell by two thirds to 243 million euros. Thyssenkrupp specified the forecast and now expects an operating profit in the high three-digit million range for the full year instead of in the medium to high range. In the previous year, however, Thyssenkrupp had brought in 2.1 billion euros. The free cash flow before M&A, which has received a lot of attention on the market, should be slightly positive.
“The transformation of Thyssenkrupp has significantly improved our financial stability,” said Keysberg. “We are very confident that we will also achieve our goal of a slightly positive free cash flow before M&A in the current fiscal year.” The group had not been able to do this in recent years. Thyssenkrupp achieved a value of 347 million euros here in the third quarter. The economically sensitive steel division went downhill. Lower prices for the material halved the adjusted EBIT to 190 (previous year: 376) million euros. Thyssenkrupp wants to make production climate-friendly and recently received the green light from the EU Commission for two billion euros in funding from the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.