ThyssenKrupp feels chill of low steel prices

Germany's largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp said on Thursday that low prices for steel and other raw materials had weakened results in its third quarter, but confirmed its forecast for the year.

Revenues at the group, which also makes lifts, submarines and car parts, fell to 9.9 billion euros -- 12 percent lower than in April-June 2015.

Operating profits as measured by EBIT fell by 25 percent to 372 million euros, while net profits were down around a third at 130 million euros.

"Difficult conditions on raw materials markets and continuing high steel imports" had made for a tough year, the group said in a statement.

Beyond steel, ThyssenKrupp is suffering through a period of low orders.

Its industrial solutions division has suffered from worldwide low oil prices, with orders for its turnkey installations down 14 percent in the first nine months of this financial year.

But "we are starting to see the first improvements in raw materials prices," chief executive Heinrich Hiesinger said in a statement.

Finance director Guido Kerkhoff was more reserved in a Thursday conference call, acknowledging a "positive development" in steel prices without seeing a definitive start to a new cycle.

"The important thing is that we have to keep working on our costs, we have to increase our efficiency further," he went on.

"We will continue to concentrate on the things we can influence ourselves. That's already proving effective," Hiesinger said, pointing to the company's restructuring and efficiency drives which it expects to boost operating profit by 850 million euros this year.

ThyssenKrupp forecasts a net profit similar to last year's result of 268 million euros when its financial year ends in September, on operating profit of 1.4 billion.