FRANKFURT (AP) -- Germany's biggest steel maker, ThyssenKrupp AG, said Friday it will report a pretax loss of euro2.4 billion ($3.6 billion) for the 2008-2009 fiscal year due to a number of one-time charges and as the global downturn hurt demand from industry.

ThyssenKrupp, based in Duesseldorf, had a pretax profit of euro3.1 billion in the previous fiscal year.

It said Friday that revenue declined to euro41 billion from euro53 billion the previous year.

The company is scheduled to report earnings for its full fiscal year -- which begins in October -- on November 27.

It did not immediately provide net income figures. In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the company reported net income of euro86 million.

Thyssen said its fourth quarter pretax loss amounted to euro1.4 billion on sales of nearly euro10 billion, but did not provide comparable figures.

The company said the 2008-2009 fiscal year was the most difficult in its history, and that the economic downturn hit almost all markets. It took a number of impairment charges, totaling some euro2 billion for the year, including measures to scale back production to preserve jobs.

At the same time, it faced construction costs for building up businesses in Alabama and Brazil.

Looking ahead, it predicted some improvement for the next fiscal year, but said the emerging economic recovery remained fragile.

"We anticipate that sales will stabilize in fiscal 2009-2010," Ekkehard Schulz, the company's chief executive, said in the report. "Earnings are expected to improve significantly and return to profit, thanks in no small part to the cost-cutting programs we have introduced."

The outlook managed to push shares of Thyssen about 1 percent higher to euro23.75 in Frankfurt afternoon trading.

Thyssen said it expects European steel volumes to improve but revenue to decline.

The stainless steel division is predicted to see a stabilization in volumes and prices, while a strong order backlog in Thyssen's elevator business is expected to contribute to earnings.

The America's steel business will most likely see a pretax loss in 2009-2010, in the three-digit million euro range, Thyssen said. The loss partly stems from charges on steel production plant projects in Alabama and Brazil.

Thyssen said construction work on the new steel making and processing plant near Mobile, Alabama, is largely on schedule and production will start in the second quarter of 2010.

A U.S. stainless steel mill, also in Mobile, is also expected to begin production in October 2010, initially with a reduced cold-rolled capacity of around 110,231 tons, or 100,000 metric tons per year.

The other parts of the stainless steel facility will be started up over an extended period.

Thyssen said the Brazilian iron ore producer Vale S.A. has increased its shareholding in ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderurgica do Atlantico Ltda., the Brazilian steel mill subsidiary, to just under 27 percent through a capital increase of euro965 million.

Thyssen said the move strengthens the basis for a long-term strategic partnership and that Vale would pay for the stake in full by the first quarter of 2009-2010.