Steel Mills

SDI Sales and Earnings Rise in Q2

July 22, 2014

Steel Dynamics announced net income of $72 million in second quarter 2014 on net sales of $2.1 billion. In comparison, second quarter 2013 net income was $29 million and sequential quarter net income was $39 million. Sales were 13 percent higher both year over year and sequentially. All reporting segments showed higher profitability after the negative weather impact of the first quarter.

Quarterly steel shipments were at record levels. Sheet steel shipments were up 21 percent, structural beam 14 percent, and rail 22 percent compared to Q1 2014. Total steel shipments for Q2 2014 were 1.678 million tons. Production for second quarter totaled 1.7 million tons. Average price per ton for the quarter was $833. The steel mill utilization rate improved by 9 percent across all of SDI’s mills.

Metals recycling and ferrous resources operations from OmniSource and the Minnesota iron producing operations totaled sales of $1.0 million with external sales of $645,216.

In the earnings conference call today, CEO Mark Millet said the market today was positive from a “pricing standpoint and potential” and the “current environment is sustainable.” On scrap prices, Millet said “given that the export market is not incredibly strong, we expect scrap to be sideways or edge down a few bucks.”

The Severstal Columbus acquisition for $1.625 billion is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and cash flow per share. SDI anticipates synergies of $30 million. The acquisition will increase SDI’s steel production capacity by more than 40 percent while not adding new capacity to the market.

The Columbus mill is a complement to SDI’s Butler facility, said Millet, and has the potential to match or exceed Butler’s production.