Improvement of Earnings

Although EBITDA improved from 84.4 MEUR in 2002 to 85.5 MEUR in 2003, it could not fully match the growth of Sales.  This was due to a drop in Earnings in the Rolling Mills and Strip Processing Lines Business Area.  Capacity under-utilization in one of the Business Area’s product segments locations in the first Half of 2003, and losses at Selas were the main reasons for this decline.  However, a very favorable development was achieved by the Pulp and Paper Business Area, whose EBITDA substantially improved from 53.5 MEUR in 2002 to 63.9 MEUR in 2003 in line with Sales growth.  In addition, the Feed Technology Business Area was able to increase its EBITDA compared to 2002 due to successful restructuring measures.

EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) increased by 7.9% to 48.9 MEUR (2002: 45.3 MEUR).  Despite a slight decline of the financial result (from 0.5 MEUR in 2002 to 0.4 MEUR in 2003) as a consequence of lower interest levels, Earnings Before Taxes (EBT) increased to 49.3 MEUR in 2003 (2002: 45.7 MEUR).  Net Income after deducting Minority Interests was 29.1 MEUR, an increase of 9.8% compared to 2002 (26.5 MEUR).