In the first three quarters of 2008, RHI, the world market leader in refractories, increased revenues to € 1,220.9 million, up 12.4% on the same period in 2007. EBITDA rose by 15.1% to € 184.9 million; EBIT improved by 19.6% to € 148.0 million. At 12.1%, the EBIT margin thus clearly exceeded the prior-year figure of 11.4%.
0,920,72,692,04
| 3rd Quarter | Q1-Q3 | |||
| in € million | 2008 | 2007*) | 2008 | 2007*) |
| Revenues | 414,1 | 362,1 | 1,220.9 | 1,085.9 |
| EBITDA | 62,2 | 54,7 | 184,9 | 160,7 |
| EBIT | 49,9 | 42,1 | 148 | 123,7 |
| EBIT margin | 12.1% | 11.6% | 12.1% | 11.4% |
| Diluted earnings per share (in €) | ||||
*) adjusted
Outlook RHI expects a continued satisfactory business development until the end of the year, although the growth rates recorded so far in 2008 are unlikely to continue in the coming year due to significant production cuts in the steel industry.
The further development of the Steel Division in 2009 will be heavily dependent on the global environment, with employment in the automotive, construction and mechanical engineering sectors being decisive for its customer industry. In the Industrial Division, it remains to be seen whether projects will be postponed. While the real estate crisis in some regions of the world slows down cement consumption, the glass industry currently expects little impact of the financial crisis on planned investments. Major investment projects, especially in the nickel, copper and zinc segments, are influenced by the sharply dropped metal and alloy prices, which are leading to order postponements. The Raw Materials/Production Division will suffer from the high energy and raw material costs in the next few months. The additional supply with own raw materials from China will have a positive effect on the result in 2009.