Voestalpine confirms full-year targets after H1 profit bump

BERLIN (Reuters) - Austrian specialty steelmaker Voestalpine on Wednesday confirmed its full-year targets after reporting a sharp rise in profit for the first half on strong demand.

The company, which specialises in making finished parts for the automotive, aerospace and rail industries, reported profit after tax of 486 million euros ($562 million) for the first half. For the same period last year, it reported a loss of 276 million euros.

Incoming orders from the aviation industry were on the rise again for the first time since the pandemic began and customers from the construction, mechanical engineering and consumer goods industries continued to show high demand, Voestalpine said.

However, the Linz-based company also said it was feeling the drag on the automotive industry due to the global chip shortage and is not expecting things to improve in that segment before at least the middle of next year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) climbed to 1.05 billion euros in the six months from April, from 395 million euros the year prior.

It still expects EBITDA to increase to 1.9 billion euros to 2.2 billion in 2021/22 from 1.1 billion last year.

The company's second-quarter results were in line with analysts' expectations: EBITDA rose to 510 million euros, up from 237 million last year.

($1 = 0.8655 euros)

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Christian Schmollinger, Kirsti Knolle)