Steel Mills
Olympic Steel Shows Strength in Q1
Written by Sandy Williams
May 2, 2018
Olympic Steel reported that net sales jumped 12 percent year-over-year to $335 million in first quarter after all three of its operating segments reported double-digit growth.
“Accelerating shipments and rising prices throughout the first quarter resulted in our highest operating income in any quarter since 2011,” said Chairman and CEO Michael Siegal. Operating income increased 12 percent to $12.3 million compared to first-quarter 2017 and net income was $7.6 million.
Olympic Steel is encouraged by the long-term demand trends of its end markets. Construction equipment remains very strong and increasing activity is evident in the agriculture and transportation equipment markets.
“As we move through a busy spring season, shipping volumes and metal prices remain elevated, setting the stage for a strong first half,” Siegal said.
Olympic Steel included in its pricing outlook the one month extension of the Section 232 tariff exemptions and growing list of tariff requests.
Olympic shipped 297,604 tons of carbon flat products at an average selling price of $809 per ton in first quarter compared to $714 per ton a year ago.
The company acquired Berlin Metals, a distributor of tin mill products with a growing stainless steel business, at the end of the first quarter. Construction is underway for a new building to house a stainless steel cut-to-length line for Olympic’s Schaumburg, Ill., facility. Production is slated to begin in early 2019. A new long bed tube laser line was installed at CTI to accommodate growing processing opportunities. A refurbished third stainless steel slitter recently became operational in Streetsboro, Ohio.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
SSAB announces $74M expansion in Alabama
The project will expand heat treat capacity at its Axis, Alabama plant
ArcelorMittal’s EAF in Alabama expects first heat in Q2
The facility at AMNS Calvert will be the first EAF in North America capable of supplying exposed automotive grades with domestically melted and poured material.
Nucor’s Topalian lauds Trump’s trade policies, downplays impact
Nucor’s top exec Leon Topalian said the benefit of the current administration’s aggressive trade policies “trumps” any risk of potentially higher raw materials prices.
SSAB reports higher production, shipments
But profits slipped vs. last year.
Nucor earnings slump in first quarter, but better times seen ahead
Nucor’s profits fell precipitously in the first quarter, but the company has a rosier outlook for the following quarter.