The sale of the profitable elevator division should become a relief for Thyssenkrupp. But in the Corona crisis, the troubled company burns so much money that it has to bury some hope.
Essen (dpa) - Out of the many bad numbers that Thyssenkrupp published in its semi-annual report, a positive one stands out:
In the first six months of the fiscal year running until the end of September, the steel and industrial group had a total of 402 million euros in business with elevators and escalators. But that's not really good news for Thyssenkrupp. Because the only reliable source of profit will no longer belong to the long-established company, which is deeply in crisis.
The Essen-based company sold its elevator division to an investor consortium for 17.2 billion euros. The income was supposed to help Thyssenkrupp achieve a major relief, debt reduction and corporate restructuring wanted CEO Martina Merz to finance with the income. But whether there is a lot of money left for investments is more uncertain than ever. It was already clear "that Corona would significantly limit our scope," Merz admitted in a written statement on the half-year figures. The employees had recently warned her in a letter regarding the serious situation that "nothing should be excluded".
Thyssenkrupp is one of the companies particularly hard hit by the pandemic in Germany, because it was badly hit even before the crisis. Its most important products, steel and auto parts, are currently hardly available to customers. The result: plants were shut down or closed. The group sent more than 30,000 of its approximately 160,000 short-time employees worldwide. The hole in the company's box office has been widened even further. A loss of 1.3 billion euros was incurred in the first half of the financial year.
There is no improvement in sight for the second half of the year. On the contrary: Thyssenkrupp should burn even more money. In the third quarter, which runs until the end of June, a loss in the high three-digit million euro range is "likely" and "up to a good euro 1 billion cannot be ruled out," said CFO Klaus Keysberg in a telephone press conference.
In order to make ends meet, Thyssenkrupp secured a loan of 1 billion euros from the KfW development bank's special program. The money injection should last until the money from the sale of the elevator division flows, and then be repaid. Keysberg tried to calm the capital market with two messages. "We have no problem with liquidity," he said. The sale of the elevator division is not in danger. In the meantime, 8 of the 13 required antitrust clearances have been obtained without conditions.
The protestations did not catch on the stock exchange. In the morning, Thyssenkrupp's share price temporarily fell by more than 12 percent to EUR 4.24. The course later recovered. The concept for the corporate restructuring is awaited on the stock exchange and the supervisory board will discuss this next Monday. But Keysberg dampened expectations of concrete steps. Against the background of Corona this could "just be a look into the workshop".
The employees of Thyssenkrupp also remain uncertain. It has already been agreed that 6,000 jobs will be cut across the Group by the 2021/22 financial year. Of these, 2400 jobs are being implemented or have already been cut, Keysberg said. Whether more jobs would have to be cut is "not to be specified at the moment". If the economic situation is still 20 percent below the pre-Corona level in a year, "we will of course have to talk about it," said Keysberg.
Interim report Thyssenkrupp
