Steelmaker Voestalpine posts record year, less optimistic for 22/23

BERLIN (Reuters) -Austria's Voestalpine posted a record high annual core profit on Wednesday, beating its forecast, but is less optimistic about this year, the specialty steelmaker said.

The maker of finished parts for the automotive, aerospace and rail industries reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) which doubled to 2.3 billion euros ($2.46 billion) in its best result in history.

In February it had said it expected to hit the upper end of a range of 1.9 billion to 2.2 billion euros.

The company is now proposing a dividend of 1.20 euros, after paying a dividend of 50 cents per share the previous year.

The Linz-based company benefited from high demand for high-quality steel and said that even its automotive division, which was affected by supply problems, performed satisfactorily.

"By maintaining our clear focus on measures to boost efficiency, we were able to exploit the positive economic environment during the business year as best we could," CEO Herbert Eibensteiner said.

An order backlog will help the company stay strong through the first half, though momentum is expected to slow over the summer, the company said.

Citing major uncertainties about the second half, the company lowered its 2022/23 EBITDA forecast to between 1.8 billion and 2.0 billion euros.

The forecast is based on the assumption that there will be no major economic distortions due to new, more aggressive COVID-19 outbreaks, large-scale supply chain issues or war.

($1 = 0.8759 euros)

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Matthias Williams and Jason Neely)