Record result for the Salzgitter Group

Annual Results Press Conference of the Salzgitter Group

At a press conference in Salzgitter given to around 20 journalists, Executive Board Chairman Wolfgang Leese and Executive Board member Finance Dr. Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann presented what are record results in the history of the Salzgitter Group.

Dr. Fuhrmann outlined and commented on the key data for the 2005 financial year: at € 941 million, the Group achieved a significant increase in pre-tax earnings and almost tripled the already very pleasing result of the previous year of € 323 million. Sales also reached an all-time high at € 7.15 billion. This also applies to ROCE (return on capital employed), which, at 38.9%, lies far above the Group target of 12% ROCE in excess of the cycle.

Besides the favorable environment resulting from the strong economic developments in Asia and America, Dr. Fuhrmann cited the outstanding business performance in the Steel, Trading and Tubes business divisions as reasons for the record result.

Subject to the approval of the General Meeting of Shareholders on June 8 (to be held in Braunschweig), a dividend of 1 Euro per share will be paid. With this increase of 40 cents compared with the previous year in 2004, "the development of the dividend is in line with the development of Group net profits", explained Dr. Fuhrmann. In addition to this, he went on to say, shareholders benefited from the rise in the price of Salzgitter's shares, which are outperforming other companies in the sector as well as both the DAX and MDAX share indices.

Wolfgang Leese gave a positive interim assessment of the growth strategy: "Since the 1998/99 financial year, sales have risen from € 2.7 billion to € 7.15 billion". The reasons for this, he explained, were not only internal investments in facilities, plants and processes but also external acquisitions. In this connection, Leese called attention to the acquisition of Mannesmannröhren-Werke. He pointed out that, as before, the primary target of the Salzgitter Group was the preservation of corporate independence through profitability and growth.

Executive Board Chairman Wolfgang Leese went on to make the following forecast for 2006: on the basis of an overall Group planning and budgeting conducted before the start of the financial year, which include particular market developments, general conditions and corporate measures, we are forecasting for the current 2006 financial year a distinctly lower pre-tax profit compared with the previous year, amounting to a triple-digit figure in millions of euros. From today's perspective, it should be possible to approximately equal the already very pleasing result achieved in 2004.