Commercial Metals Company announced Thursday financial results for its third quarter ended May 31, 2015. Net earnings attributable to CMC for the three months ended May 31, 2015 were $56.7 million ($0.49 per diluted share) on net sales of $1.5 billion. This compares to net earnings attributable to CMC of $23.6 million ($0.20 per diluted share) on net sales of $1.7 billion for the third quarter ended May 31, 2014.
Earnings from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 were $67.1 million ($0.58 per diluted share), compared with earnings from continuing operations of $24.5 million ($0.21 per diluted share) for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
Joe Alvarado, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO, commented, "Fiscal third quarter adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations represents our highest adjusted EBITDA since the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Our domestic mills continued to benefit from expanding metal margins as a result of lower raw material prices when compared to one year ago. Although shipments from a number of our locations in the central and eastern regions of the US were delayed as a result of record amounts of rainfall in Texas and the surrounding states in the latter part of our third quarter, we are confident in our expectation that US construction activity will continue to improve during the summer months translating into strong activity levels within our domestic business."
Results for the three months ended May 31, 2015 included after-tax LIFO income from continuing operations of $24.1 million ($0.21 per diluted share), compared with after-tax LIFO income from continuing operations of $5.3 million ($0.04 per diluted share) for the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations was $126.0 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, our highest adjusted operating profit since the first quarter of fiscal 2009. This compares with adjusted operating profit from continuing operations of $58.1 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $158.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations of $90.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
Alvarado concluded, "As we enter our fiscal fourth quarter, our key market indicators point toward a strong finish to our fiscal 2015. The demand for our finished steel products in the US and Poland remains high. Additionally, unfavorable weather in May in the central region of the US resulted in certain construction projects being pushed out into our fiscal fourth quarter, which we expect should provide some upside to the fourth quarter's results. Elevated levels of imports continue to pressure margins for our US and Polish operations. Our International Marketing and Distribution segment also continues to be challenged by the strong US dollar."