Amag reports successful start to 2020

Amag Austria Metall AG made a successful start to 2020: profitability has increased significantly compared with Q1 2019.

Earnings figures rose at all levels, while revenue decreased by 10 % from EUR274.4 m to EUR246.4 m.

In addition to the lower aluminium price, the main reason for the decrease in revenue was an 11 % reduction in shipment volumes to 99,600 t(111,600 t in Q1 2019), mainly due to a weather-related delay of primary aluminium in Canada. Deliveries of aluminium rolled products to the automotive and aerospace industries grew whereas shipments of rolled products for the distribution area decreased due to the market conditions.

After a good start to 2020, further trends are strongly influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Amag points out that raw material and currency markets are currently characterized by high volatility and reduced customer demand, especially in the automotive and aircraft industries. On 1 April 2020 short-time working was introduced at the Ranshofen site in order to respond flexibly to fluctuations in capacity utilization.

Amag CEO Gerald Mayer says: “Our broad positioning forms a key cornerstone of our strategy and is particularly effective as a stabilizing factor in the current market environment. Thanks to our diversified product and customer portfolio with a large number of special products, dependency on individual key customers and industries is comparatively low. The raw material supply with aluminium scrap is well secured. With the investments made in recent years, we were quick to focus on making the supply of raw materials for the Ranshofen site largely independent of regions outside Europe.”

Due to the market environment affected by Covid-19, the management board expects a noticeable decrease in earnings compared to the previous year. The extent of this reduction cannot be forecast at present owing to the high level of market uncertainty, says Amag.