This new language is not entirely unfounded. In disarray, ThyssenKrupp's European steel business is about to be sold to India's Jindal Steel; its marine division has been partially spun off, with 49% of the capital listed on the stock market in a model now common across the Rhine; while all attention is turning to advanced materials and decarbonization technologies.
These initiatives have been welcomed by investors - who "like" a restructuring plan that leaves 11,000 employees from the steel business on the sidelines - as shown by the stock's astonishing rally this year. This can hardly obscure the group's catastrophic operating performance, which published its annual results yesterday.
Its revenue fell a further 6% over the past twelve months, reaching its lowest level in ten years. Return on capital employed remains anemic, and while cash flow before scope changes remains sparingly positive for the third consecutive year, this timid improvement follows eight years of hemorrhage that saw ThyssenKrupp burn €8.5bn in total between 2016 and 2022.
Next year will be no better. There is still no tangible sign of a recovery in the automotive sector and ThyssenKrupp's prolonged restructuring will push consolidated cash flows back into the red. The group may present 45% of its investments as growth-oriented - while 55% would be maintenance-oriented - but that growth has yet to materialize.
In this respect, it is hard to discern what could halt the uninterrupted destruction of value at ThyssenKrupp for twenty years. Its revenue has scarcely changed over the period - which is to say it has fallen sharply once adjusted for inflation - and the group has been accustomed to losses since the subprime crisis.
