Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the AMAG Austria Metall AG Q3 2023 results presentation. Throughout today's recorded presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you may press star followed by one on your telephone. Please press the star key followed by zero for operator assistance. The forecast, budgets and forward-looking assessments and statements contained in this presentation were compiled on the basis of all information available to AMAG as of October 18, 2023. In the event that the assumptions underlying these forecasts prove to be incorrect, targets be missed or risks materialize, actual results may diverge from those currently anticipated. We are not obligated to revise these forecasts in the light of new information or future events.
This presentation was prepared and the data contained in it verified with the greatest possible care. Nevertheless, misprints and rounding and transmission errors cannot be ruled out entirely. In particular, AMAG and its representatives do not assume any responsibility for the completeness or correctness of information included in this presentation. This presentation is also available in German. In cases of doubt, the German language version takes precedence. This presentation does not comprise either a recommendation or solicitation to either purchase or sell securities of AMAG. I would now like to turn the conference over to Christoph Gabriel, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our conference call for the first three quarters of 2023 of AMAG Austria Metall AG. Today, Gerald Mayer, CEO of AMAG, will present the development and results of the first nine months of this year. After Gerald's presentation, you have the opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A session. As usual, the presentation as well as the press release has been published this morning on our homepage under Investor Relations. Gerald, I would like to hand over to you, and please start the presentation.
Thank you, Christoph. Very warm welcome from my side, from a sunny, fall day, autumn day in Ranshofen. It's a pleasure to present to you the first three quarters. It was for us, the second best nine-month result in history, which we have to put into perspective as we had a fantastic year, 2022. So what we saw this year is that our portfolio, which is highly diversified, as you know, that we have our interest in Canada, means an international footprint, was of course, supportive and provided this solid earning trend in a very challenging environment. The positive trend also continued and was supported by demand, in particular from sectors like aerospace, and also stable development of the automotive industries.
Aerospace, architectural products as well as industrial applications, or in particular, industrial applications, are still at a very low level. The revenue all in all was at EUR 1.1 billion, roughly, which really exceeded the EUR 1 billion level, but of course, below the last year's or prior years comparing number of EUR 1.3 billion. EBITDA at EUR 166 million, as I mentioned before, was the second best performance for nine months for AMAG up to now. And we compare these numbers to a record year, 2022, where we had EUR 217 million. Net income after tax at a solid level of roughly EUR 70 million, after EUR 107 million in the first nine months of 2022.
What was very positive was our cash flow performance, cash flow from operating activities at the level of EUR 157 million, way above the prior year's number of roughly EUR 40 million. I will talk about this definitely a little bit later. Outlook, in a time where we continuously hear of recession and so on, difficult to take, but we are convinced that we will end this year between EUR 175 million and EUR 195 million in EBITDA. Next slide. We are very proud that we were awarded four times last week. I put you this on slide number four, as it is more or less confirms the overall approach there also of AMAG and our strategy.
So we have one award there which was about sustainability communication, that brought transparency there. We got one, the Austrian SDG Award, in the parliament in Vienna, in Austria, which was also something which confirms our sustainability approach, which is an holistic one. We got the so-called Green Data Business Award, which had to do with digitization, digitalization, and sustainability, where we have fantastic initiatives, and we were awarded as Austrian Leading Company in Upper Austria, and this had to do with financial KPIs. So it confirms our strategy in our opinion, and we're very proud of that. Next slide, slide number six. The overall sentiment and environment.
What we see here, and this is what we read on a daily basis in the newspapers, is that the overall sentiment, and you see here, the PMI fever curve, is of course, not really positive. It's negative, actually, and we are still at 40 in Austria, and this is now the situation or has been the situation for more than six months. Same in Germany, and all Europe is more or less negative. This index, this PMI index is very important for us, for our industrial application business, where we see a low order intake right now. On the other side, as we mentioned, or as I mentioned in the highlight slide in the very beginning.
We have other areas where we are really doing well, and this is in particular the transport sector, which is continuing positive in terms of demand. So means rising aircraft build rates, also stable demand from automotive is also effect in our business, and this is then accompanied by positive development for our smelting operation in Canada. So I would say not, it's not a super negative picture. It is also positive in many aspects. Next slide, aluminum price trend. It is a stable development, I would say overall in 2023, more or less flat, some ups and downs. Right now, we are at the level of slightly below $2,200 per ton.
If you compare the levels to prior year levels for Q3 or for year- to- date numbers, of course, we are down. We are $530 per ton down. If you compare the first 9 months, and we are $150-$160 down, if you compare Q3 standalone. And this, of course, has been an impact in our top line in sales, which I will talk about a little bit later. Slide number eight, our most important raw material for the primary aluminum production is alumina, as you know. A similar situation there, a similar picture there, also stable development throughout the year, but we see just a slight decline compared to what we saw in aluminum.
And this is also a main reason that the margins are more tight compared to last year in our upstream business. So the percentage, if we always compare and calculate the price for alumina as a percentage of the aluminum price, and this is up, and this means margins are slightly lower. Next slide, shipments. First three quarters, 2022, we shipped 319,000 tons. This year, we shipped 303,000 tons, so we are roughly 5% down. Going to the bottom of this chart, you see that in metal division, we are more or less flat, 100 tons up.
In casting, we matched the prior year's level, and we are down in rolling, and this is exactly what I mentioned before, that the industrial applications business is of course affected by the recession in Germany, in particular, and in Austria. And this is what we see there. This is the reason for this demand. Aircraft is up, automotive is slightly up, architecture and sports also down, but this is to with, with, I would say, still with bullwhip effects, after a very strong, let's say, demand during and after COVID time. To the shipments by industry in Rolling Division, this is slide number 10. You see there, again, what I mentioned before.
First of all, you see that the product portfolio gives a stabilizing effect as we are down in certain areas. Of course, we compensated a part of it in other areas, and you see that we shipped 2,000 tons more, for example, in automotive, 4,000 tons more in aerospace. We shipped 2,000 tons more in heat exchanger business, also slightly more in packaging. And then there are the other areas, as I mentioned them before, and this is in particular, industrial applications, where we are 19,000 tons down. And this is the area which is mostly affected by the actual economic situation. Slide number 11, revenue. I think now it's pretty clear that we had a decline in volume. We saw a declining aluminum price.
This results then in a lower number, top line number, means revenue is down from EUR 1.3 billion to EUR 1.1 billion, roughly, but still at the high level and clearly above EUR 1 billion. And at the bottom of this slide, you see the reconciliation. The two main reasons why we are down, as I mentioned before, is aluminum price and volume, and this is, clearly stated there in this bridge. Next slide is slide number 12. Our EBITDA performance in the first nine months, as I mentioned before, clearly above 2019 levels. It was the second best year for nine months for us, but we are significantly down compared to prior year numbers, as we had a record year, last year.
Last year, we were supported, and this is what you see at the bottom of this chart, at the bridge again. We were highly supported by aluminum price. EUR 40 million was the impact, roughly, and this, of course, is something we missed there. On the other side, this year, raw materials, energy was cheaper. This contributes EUR 17 million. Volume is down, mix is different as we lost, let's say, high margin industrial application products this year, so we are EUR 60 million impact is there. And then we have some other effects, which in particular has to do with valuation effects. You might be aware that we had to provide, in particular, for losses because of high energy prices last year, and so we had to be consumed and release some of these provisions this year.
This is the main impact of this EUR 28 million. Of course, besides some other effects, like higher structural costs, for example, as inflation, of course, is simply affect also for a business like us. Change by division, this is slide number 13. In metal division, we are down EUR 37.7 million, but we are still way above a normal full average year in EBITDA in metal division. So this was an extraordinary year, 2023, with an overall result for the full year of more than EUR 100 million. So this is—this for us, it is, it, it was more or less like planned for this year that we are down there. Casting division at a very high level, slightly down EUR 1.6 million, that we still have......
A good demand from automotive, and of course, we also have higher structural costs, and this is the reason why we are down. Rolling division, the impact from lower volumes and of course, price pressure is also there in markets which are going down, and this is something which we see in the comparison of the numbers last year. Again, in rolling, we had a very good year. Also in rolling, we had a very good year, and so we are EUR 15 million down compared to the prior year in EBITDA. Slide number 14, same picture, similar pattern for Q3. After EUR 60 million, the record level last year, we had EUR 48.8 million this year, still high.
We saw impacts from lower aluminum price, which is mainly or which is actually an impact from the metal division. Lower price for primary aluminum is the reason there, combined, of course, with raw materials, where we have a positive contribution, which you see there on the fourth line at the bottom of this chart, plus EUR 13 million cheaper raw material and cheaper energy. You know that for us, the energy price is linked directly to the aluminum price in Canada for our smelter. So if aluminum price is down, also the price for electricity, for example, is down. This is what you see there. We also have impacts from other effects, means higher structural costs, but also valuation effects.
I mentioned the loss provisions before, which we had to build end of last year. This is a positive impact there. And so we end up at EUR 48.2 million for Q3 . Net income, EUR 107 million, roughly, prior year, EUR 70 million, the first nine months, 2023. It is still a high level, despite the fact that we are significantly down compared to last year. The bridge, I think there's nothing spectacular there. We had some impacts from lower depreciation and of course less income taxes to pay because of this decreased result. I would like to skip the key financial figures of slide number 16. I think this would just be, I would just repeat myself to what I mentioned before.
Slide number 17, some ESG numbers, where I simply wanna point out that because we had such a significant shift in product mix with low, way, way lower industrial products, many of these numbers are affected. Just to give you an example, scrap rates are higher for industrial applications than, for example, for aerospace products. And so this number had to go down, so and it's just. It is at the same level of 75%, a little bit more than 75%, still quite high. Same is true for specialty products. The more aerospace we sell, the more specialty products we have here in the statistics, the less or the less we sell in terms of industrial products.
Industrial application products normally is then translated also to a higher number and higher rate of, of specialties. So this is the main reason there. Specific energy consumption is at the same level as CO₂ emissions, also roughly at the same level. Where we had to have an issue this year, where the performance is not, we wanna have it, is, safety. TRI is at 2.5. We have to improve the performance here, and they're working hard on that, on that side. So, yeah, it is our target that all our employees, they should arrive safe, and, and healthy on our site here, and they should leave then and go back home to their relatives and their spouses, when they return home, safely and in good health. Of course, this is the main target there.
But all in all, I would say, knowing the shift in product mix is the main reason, in particular for specialties, scrap rate, and environmental numbers. This is important to know, and that we are on top and on it in terms of safety. This is something I wanted to mention. So slide number 18, I would say this is fantastic, first nine months in terms of cash flow from operating activities. We had very positive impact in terms of working capital, but comes, of course, automatically with lower aluminum price, but 60% relate roughly in terms of working capital changes to our working capital performance, where we reduced simply volume. And this is what you have to do when demand is low. You really have to be strict there, and this is what we did.
We walked the talk there, and so the cash, cash performance was really positive in the first 9 months. Investing activities here at the bottom, after roughly EUR 50 million last year, EUR 75 million this year, we are right now finishing, well, let's say, the final phase of our new pickling line, which we erect right now at our site here in Ranshofen. It's on time, on budget, as we see, and this we are convinced the nice new equipment will be on stream soon. And, of course, there are still payments to be made, and I guess some payments to be made next year out of that. Some numbers about our balance sheet and our status.
So the next two slides simply should give you an overview that of financial debt is a little bit down compared to last year. I think it's, it's good. You see there the positive impact of this positive cash flow. It is necessary in times like that, that you are strict there, and I think a good performance in terms of net debt, EBITDA, we are below two, and also something we are prepared even if a recession takes longer, but this is, I think, you know, that we are conservative in that sense, and this is our target also for the future. Equity and cash equivalents, equity is up. Of course, the result is positive, and the dividend payment is digested. This is more or less the, the impact there.
Yeah, and cash and cash equivalents in particular, I would say, because of this higher cash flow, dividend payments, which, as I said, digested, we are up compared to 31st in this case, sorry, 30th of June, means end of last quarter. A quick view to the divisions. Metal division, earnings are solid. They are, of course, below previous levels. The market conditions changed. The plant is up and running, very good operational performance there.
And I would say prices in relation to all the important raw materials, of course, are not as high as they were last year, but they are still at an attractive level, and we are right now in the run rate, I would say, roughly at the level of yeah, a long-term historical level, roughly. So this is where we are right now. So I would say a decent level. Slide number 22, Casting Division. They had, again, a very good, I would say, super positive year after record year 2022. Automotive is still good. We take advantage of that, of course, the capacity utilization is high.
The guys do a very good job there operationally, and this is something which then translates into a high results, and this is what I also can say, the plant and the equipments are full also for Q4 for our Casting Division. Rolling, as I mentioned before, here we have, because of the wide variety of our product portfolio, we have, on the one side, very positive performing parts their business units. They're like, aerospace right now is growing, it is strong. We just published our new contract with Airbus, where we won shares also and market shares, and we expect also for the future, increasing numbers there.
And this also, of course, has to do with the ramp up of our customers there in this business. In automotive industries, we saw a very stable development this year. And so I would say, good, good and positive trend there. On the other side, as I mentioned before, we have other areas in our portfolio of roughly 5,000 products, which are not doing that well right now. They are impacted in current market conditions and environment. The recession is there, it is a fact, and this has to do with industrial application products, where we serve, in particular, German market, Austrian market, and so on. We have also other areas like sports, where we ship, for example, sprockets for the bicycle industries.
This is down after a fantastic, I would say, demand after and during COVID, and we expect that this bull will end then, during the course of next year. Architectural products are down. You know that we supply some tonnage for facades, in particular, also to China, and we all know that China real estate business is difficult right now. But all in all, I would say we are supported by a wide variety of products in our business, and, and this is also why the performance is doing well there in our rolling business. So this brings me now to the last slide, and talking a little bit how we see the future.
I added slide 25, which shows you the global demand for primary aluminum historically and what CRU expect for the next years, and the trend is positive, and this is what you can see there. So in year 2000, the overall tonnage demand was roughly 25 million. Just 24 years later, we are at roughly 70 million, and there is definitely not just room to improve. There's expected growth up to 76 million, so until 2027. So overall, the overall demand and demand trend for aluminum is very positive. We have super applications. The performance of our material is developing year- by- year, month- by- month, and so for the industry, I would say, I see a bright future.
Slide number 26, road products, similar pattern, but even 4% demand, which is expected there by CRU for 2027 per annum, actually. So increase from roughly 30 million to 36 million is expected there. It's a similar pattern, and also there, we know that we are growing in particular in the transport sector, and this is, I would say we have a very good setup there here in Austria with our new mills, which are up and running and with some capacity there for growth. Slide 27, how do we see the next months? I would say the current market environment is, of course, something which is super different for the different business areas we are in.
For our smelter, smelting operation, means the metal division, we see in principle, continued stable earnings. So what we expect for Q4 is more, let's say, a continued run rate as we see it right now. So this is, our expectation based on the assumptions, of course, we have in terms of aluminum price and alumina. For Casting Division, I also mentioned that we expect high capacity utilization as we have the orders in-house and the book is full for the rest of the year. So we will see a decent development there. This is our expectation. Of course, we also have to bear in mind that there's always maintenance time, with business, in our facilities. Same valid for rolling, by the way.
In rolling division, as we had, I mentioned it before, roughly 5,000 different products to the different industries we serve. We have, I would say, somehow a different view, depending on the industry. We don't expect that things are changing for industrial applications in the next months. We also think that in architectural applications and in sports, it stays difficult. But on the other side, we are very optimistic, in particular for the aerospace industries. We are also optimistic that we see stability in automotive in the next weeks and months. So, yeah, we'll see, and what we expect, and this is what I mentioned in the beginning, an EBITDA range between EUR 175-195 million of EBITDA.
As we do it normally, and this is a tradition that in the earliest with our full year numbers or at Q1, we will give you then the outlook, more specific outlook than for next year. Thanks now for your patience. I'm definitely here and ready to answer your questions. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star followed by two. Anyone who has a question may press star followed by one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question comes from the line of Wolfgang Matejka from Matejka. Please go ahead.
Hello, congratulations, gentlemen, and one remark from Vienna. So, my questions will—I would have two questions. It's related towards your near or, let's say, more far future. The first one is, having in mind a study already being issued one or two months ago, that gives aluminum a broad picture, a great picture for in relation to electric vehicles and to alternative energy. Having in mind that it's in that study coming from Goldman Sachs, six times more aluminum is needed by electricity and alternative applications, more than nine times. It's some kind of being bullish on that, of course, being a market participant, but do you see a similar trend of, or let's say, a similar development in your business coming ahead?
Yeah, I, I think as you mentioned, we are... This is why, why we added these two slides. You see that the overall demand and, and also for roll products is, is definitely-
Mm-hmm.
positive on what we expect in automotive. Right now, roughly, 25%+, I think it's 27%, is the number, of our materials, which we ship to automotive industry, goes into electric vehicle. And as this business is growing-
Absolutely.
I'm convinced that we will have a bright future there. We have products to support the electric vehicle business and automotive industry there, for example, for thermal management, for batteries, but also, you know, we are-
We are a one-stop shop there, and we are prepared to serve this growing market. So we are optimistic there,
yes.
In terms of alternative energies and aluminum for extrusions, of course, extrusions are. We are - this is not our business. For the industry, it's definitely very positive.
For extrusions, it's super optimistic. We are super optimistic with regard to photovoltaic systems and for our rolling business, it is important,
Mm-hmm.
for windmills again. So wind is important. This business, interestingly, is down right now, so this market is not super bullish.
Right.
I think projects-
Yeah.
are stopped or are on hold. We are waiting that this is picking up again, speed, and we are prepared to ship their tread plates.
Mm-hmm.
So this is what we ship to this industry. But we have products to serve-
Okay.
we are one of the, I would say, the biggest suppliers of tread mills in Europe, of tread plate in Europe.
Excellent.
Yeah.
Some kind of catch-up question afterwards. So congratulations for the sustainability work. It gives a picture that AMAG is doing so well on that pattern, and all the ESG related investors should take notice on that. But my question is that you are not only awarded for sustainability, but also for industrial intelligence. Maybe you can give me some actual or maybe coming highlights from your personal view related to this.
You mean on innovative products or what is it? It's-
Innovative product, correct. Yes. Plates or let's say, some kind of, mixture and so on.
I think, you know, we have so many products always in our, let's say, pipeline. I would say for me, one of the most important things which we might see in future more and more, and which we are convinced from our side at least, that we have a successful product there in future, is a new alloy class, which we call CrossAlloy for the future. And where we combine-
Okay.
The different alloys and the properties of different alloys, this is brand new, and it's a material development means you have to. It takes long. It's not, it's not something which goes from one month to the next, or one year to the next. It sometimes will take some years.
Mm-hmm.
to prepare such projects and such products. But with CrossAlloy-
Mm-hmm.
We have something in our pipeline, where I think this can be something which changes a little bit, at least, let's say again, our footprint in the industry, as this is, this is something brand new, and we combine properties of different alloy families. Something, yeah, I, I think, which might have a prosperous future. More to come.
Excellent.
with our full year presentation.
Great. Waiting for that. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
... And the next question comes from Duarte Murta from Kepler. Please go ahead.
Hello, everyone. Thank you, and, congratulations on a solid quarter. A quick one from my side. I would just like to understand if you are expecting, you know, this recession we're seeing in the industrial applications and sports to somewhat impact automotive in 2024, and, how are you seeing, demand and pricing trends, as well for auto, into next year?
First of all, the only thing I can say about automotive, we have, we hardly have spot business. Therefore, it's normally long-term business we have. And we see up to now very stable development. What you never know, it can go more positive or also more negative, but right now it's stable, and this is our expectation for next year, and this is also how we would plan next year for automotive right now. So everything else is, I would say, speculation. So, but right now, as of today, I would say we expect stable development there, and we hope that it is, as we assume, the same as we had the same question, I think, one year ago, where we had the same answer. So-
Yeah.
Last year it was stable, and it is still stable. With regard to pricing at automotive, all we do there is when we take in new orders, of course, this has to reflect also our cost structure, and it worked out quite well up to now that we pass on higher costs for energy and so on and so forth, all this inflation stuff. And so I would say also no negative, if you want to ask this question, impact I would expect therefore for next years out of that.
Okay, yeah, that answers it. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one. The next question comes from Christian Obst from Baader Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, and good morning. First of all, I have a question concerning rising interest rates. So we have these touching 5% of the bond in the U.S. and so on and so forth. What is the main impact, what you see when it comes to your suppliers, customers, or your own working capital financing, what you currently see, and what you expect for the next years, given the high interest rates? Any kind of changes, any kind of major disruption, something like that?
You mean, it was really difficult to get now the question correctly. I hope that I got it. So if not, simply interrupt again. So my-- what I got of your question is you want to have the impact of higher interest rates to our working-
Yeah
... capital finance or to customers or suppliers and so on. So this was a little bit what I got.
Yeah.
And, yeah. So for us, of course, you know, we have a structure, in general, a financing structure, where, of course, also for us, with higher interest rates, also, this goes up a little bit, but it's not that significant. But this is clear that this is a very general answer. Now, nothing spectacular, I would say, for us, what we do is we try to optimize, of course, our cash position, or let's say, the liquidity position, which we have, and we actively optimize also that, having on the one side, always, in mind, that for us, volatility in aluminum price has a big impact, and you have to be simply prepared to finance working capital needs within short.
So this is what we saw during the course of the year 2022, where we had a swing of, I think, EUR 180 million within one quarter. So this is where we always have to be prepared, and this is what we do. But we actively optimize, and what I expect for next year is, of course, slightly higher interest rate, because step by step, high interest rates kick in. For our customers and the whole supply chain for AMAG, we carefully monitor actually the performance, the status of customers of suppliers in this regard. We started that two years ago, roughly, or one and a half years, when interest started to rise.
This was one of the first exercises we did and started to do regularly to have a close look there and monitor the performance and the risk situation of our counterparties there. With regard to customers, I have to say that we insure all our receivables, and the risk is fairly limited there. So I would say, as we would say in German and in Austria, everything in grip right now and under control. But of course, you never know how things develop. We also understand that this is a risk. Yeah.
Seems to be a good job. Thank you. Free cash flow, do you expect some further releases in the fourth quarter? Or capital releases.
In free cash flow, I think it highly depends where our investment cash flow will end up, and this has to do with milestone out of our pickling line and so on. So I expect there are some payments to be made for Q4 , and at the end, it highly depends where the aluminum price will stay, I would say. I would expect perhaps slightly lower again levels in terms of volume in our inventory, and then the rest is then a formula. But I think we did a fantastic job the last half year.
Okay.
The homework was done.
Of course. Last one on tax rate. You said taxes, because of the lower result, but if I was right in my calculation, it is down to 23%, something like that. Any kind of special to mention there?
... There was nothing special in there, at least not to my knowledge. Yeah, we have again a look, and just come back to you, but I'm not aware of something special there. Yeah.
Okay. Well, thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Michael Marschallinger from Erste Group. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you for the presentation. Taking my question, I have just one left, and this is on industrial application and the shipment outlook now for Q1 . When, given that we are seeing the manufacturing PMIs now, again, weakening in October, and taking this as a leading indicator, would you say that the shipment in Q4 will be lower than in Q3 or on a similar level? And do you think it's too early now for Q4 to talk about bottom building and industrial applications? Or do you think this would be take longer, the recovery?
I have a view on the industrial application, and of course, I do not have the crystal ball there. And we see that. I don't assume that we see further decreases, actually. I would say it stays roughly at this level. And what we all assume is some technical corrections in the global growth or economy development next year. Because what we learned from our customers is that they also brought down their stock levels to even below long-term average stocks. Yeah. And so there is additional negative impact, I would say, in the demand for our products. There was additional a negative impact throughout the second half and perhaps also in the next month.
But I would say we, it's fair to assume that we see technical corrections because the stock level are at a very low level right now at our customer side. And at the end, you know, it is an up and down, and we have a cyclical business, and I'm convinced it will go up again.
Okay. So this sounds like we might see now the bottom, and then-
For me, it's roughly, you know, I would say personally, I expect, this is not the official forecast. Now, think about how I meet our customers. I would not expect that it gets worse. I would say we are roughly at the bottom.
Okay.
It's my personal view there.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Understood. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Anytime.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star, followed by one at this time. The next question comes from Markus Remis, from Raiffeisenbank. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Good morning, Gerald. Touching on Christian's question, I was probably looking for a bit more granularity, to which extent you think that you will be able to release more working capital from the volume side in the final quarter. So I'm not talking about the price development, but where do we stand in the volume release, so to say?
So what we saw, it was very difficult to get, you know, we have a deadline, I think. But, what I understood is what we expect in terms of working capital. First of all, where the impact came from, this decrease, and I said before, roughly 60% came from volume and 40% came from price. And going forward, I would expect that we see some additional, let's say, reductions also in volume and price as it is. So this is, I cannot give you there, but this is what I would expect. I hope that I got your-
Okay, thanks.
Question now correctly.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was looking for. And then, secondly, on the pricing side, in the downstream parts and rolling, I mean, how do you perceive pricing discipline? And, I mean, are there any noteworthy capacity adjustments in the market, or are your peers and competitors kind of continuing on their capacity levels and there are any kind of implications on price pressure? Thank you.
Of course, lower demand always comes with pressure and prices, and our guys there did really a fantastic job to keep the prices as high as possible, also in these areas like industrial application, where it's really tough right now. But the pressure is definitely there. So this is what we see. And yeah, also going forward, I would say, this is one of the challenges. And what was the additional one, question now? I think I missed something.
If there are any noteworthy capacity adjustments-
No.
in the industry?
Thank you. Thank you. What I can give you there, that what we see in the industry, you know, that we are not in the business of can stock. What I understand is that can stock business is super down right now, and this is the first time I would say ever, that we see significant reductions there. Has to do with inflation and so on and so forth. This brings additional capacity, perhaps, for us, new competition, perhaps in other areas where we normally do not have a big competition. Short-term impact, I would say this is what might happen, but what we see from our competition, they are up and running.
They all have the same issues there as we have, and we're all in the same boat in this regard. But there are no additional and no, let's say, reduced capacities from their side, at least I'm not aware of. The only thing I see is that we see, to a certain extent, additional capacity going, for example, to our packaging industry from can stock, at least for a certain period of time. This is what we—this impact is what we see.
Okay. All right. Thank you, Gerald.
Welcome.
There are no further questions at this time, and I hand back to Christoph Gabriel for closing comments.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining this call. As always, I'm pleased to answer any further questions via mail or telephone. Thanks again for your participation, and have a nice Wednesday. Thank you. Goodbye.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for joining and have a pleasant day. Goodbye.