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Operating income (EBITDA) improved in first nine months from €159 million to €187 million
Continued increase in digital share of sales to most recently 16% in third quarter of 2017 (Q3 2016: 11%)
Full-year targets confirmed: 10%-plus increase in EBITDA and substantial improvement in net income
Extended “Klöckner & Co 2022” strategy adopted with EBITDA margin target of above 5%
Duisburg, Germany, October 25, 2017 – Klöckner & Co raised sales by 10.9% to €4.8 billion in the first nine months of 2017, largely thanks to a significant improvement in the price level. Operating income (EBITDA) improved even more strongly by 17.5% to €187 million. This increase was partly a result of optimization measures as well as of the positive trend in prices and demand. Net income went up from €50 million to €72 million. Earnings per share rose from €0.49 to €0.71.
The Group has confirmed its full-year targets of an increase in EBITDA by more than 10% and a substantial improvement in net income.
End of September saw the announcement of the “Klöckner & Co 2022” strategy, which is an extension of “Klöckner & Co 2020”. The most important ongoing focus at Klöckner & Co is on digitalization, as borne out by growth in the share of sales generated via digital channels to 16% in the third quarter of 2017.
Overall, Klöckner & Co plans to boost the digital share of sales from 16% today to 60% by 2022. This will go hand in hand with large volumes of new business and substantial efficiency gains. Digitalization will consequently also be a major factor in the planned increase in the EBITDA margin to over 5% by 2022.
Further pillars of the “Klöckner & Co 2022” strategy are the ongoing expansion of higher value-added business to 60% of sales (2016: 46%) as well as efficiency improvements. The latter include two optimization programs – “One Europe” and the newly launched “One US” program. These programs are targeted to deliver a total annual EBITDA contribution of over €40 million by 2020.
Gisbert Rühl, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: “With ‘Klöckner & Co 2022’, we will systematically increase our profitability further in the next five years. The central role is played here by digitalization, from which we already secure a major competitive advantage as pioneers in our industry.”