In the context of the ordinary shareholders’ meeting, CEO Marc Grynberg reiterated his confidence that revenue and earnings would keep growing materially in 2018 on the back of strong demand across activities in Energy & Surface Technologies.
Considering actual performance in the first quarter and forecast demand for the remainder of the year, Umicore expects full year recurring EBIT to be in a range of € 510 million to € 550 million, assuming current market and macroeconomic conditions continue to prevail. While all three business groups are expected to contribute to this year’s revenue and profit growth, the vast majority of the growth should come from Energy & Surface Technologies.
Next to the fast ramp-up in sales of cathode materials used in rechargeable batteries for the transportation segment, Umicore continues to benefit from higher demand and prices in the cobalt and nickel related businesses. All strategic growth investments including the programme to ramp-up cathode materials production capacity are progressing well.