FRANKFURT, Jan 23 (Reuters) - German steel and engineering group ThyssenKrupp said on Friday pre-tax profit in the first quarter of its 2003/2004 business year rose by around six percent and stuck to its forecast for the full year.
The world's largest stainless steel producer said in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting that pre-tax profit in the quarter rose to around 150 million euros ($191 million), up from 141 million a year ago.
"As the economic recovery sets in, we have been observing a better than expected revival in business for some weeks now, and this continued in the seasonally weak month of December," Chief Executive Ekkehard Schulz said in a statement.
The group said it was still aiming for a pre-tax profit in its current year to the end of September 2004 of close to one billion euros, but said it could exceed that level if currency and raw materials markets remained stable.