The declines in sales and orders were mainly due to the sharp drop in prices in the materials businesses.
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“We are now seeing initial improvements in material prices”, Hiesinger said.
Thyssenkrupp is not planning any other portfolio changes beyond the possible merger of its European steel operations with a partner, its chief executive said.
“I wouldn’t say an upcycle is starting”, he told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.
Kerkhoff said he could not predict how long the talks with Tata might take.
The outcome would not be affected by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union although it would delay the process, he added.
Tata earlier this summer stalled a previous plan to sell or close its United Kingdom operations, including its main plant at Port Talbot in Wales.
The company also predicted full year Ebit for the 12 months to September 30 of at least €1.4 billion, in line with its previous forecast, and said profit in its materials business was showing signs of recovery, after a very hard first nine months.
“But in the fiscal third quarter, there were “clear signs of recovery”, the company said inThursday’s statement”. ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel producer, reported last month the highest quarterly profit since 2014 and said it expects better market conditions later in the year.
FRANKFURT-German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp AGTKAMY 1.76 % reported a 34% slide in net profit for the third quarter of its fiscal 2016, weighed down by drops in global steel and material prices from a year ago.
Thyssenkrupp shares fell nearly 4 percent in early trading and were the biggest German blue-chip decliners .GDAXI but by 0838 GMT had partially recovered to trade down 1.4 percent at 20.82 euros. That beat the 419 million euro average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
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Net sales were down 12 percent to 9.87 billion euros from 11.18 billion euros a year ago. We are continuing to concentrate on the things we can influence ourselves.
