Commercial Metals Company back in the black after Q4 loss

Monday, 09 January 2012 09:46:50 (GMT+2)

Irving, Texas-based steelmaker and metals recycler Commercial Metals Company (CMC) reported net earnings of $107.7 million for its fiscal Q1 2012 (ended November 30, 2011) after suffering a $120.3 million loss in fiscal Q4 2011 and a $129.6 million net loss for the full year 2011.

 While some sectors, such as Americas Fabrication, continued to struggle with profitability in Q1, CMC's other business sectors such as Americas Mills and Americas Recycling recorded substantially higher earnings. Americas Mills had an operating profit of $57.9 million in Q1, $23.8 million higher than last year's first quarter. CMC's steel mills also operated an average of 78 percent of capacity in Q1, compared to about 72 percent in Q1 2011.

Meanwhile, operating profit for Americas Recycling more than doubled year-on-year in Q1 to $10.8 million compared to $5.2 million in Q1 2011. Average ferrous scrap selling prices were about $351/net ton in Q1, a 24 percent increase from 2011. CMC shipped 538,000 nt of ferrous scrap in fiscal Q1 2012, a 9 percent increase over Q1 a year ago.

Additionally, Joe Alvarado, CMC president and CEO, commented that already in January, scrap prices are already up about $25-$30/lt and scrap prices in February are expected to stabilize.

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