Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation Thursday reported a net loss of $46.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2009, in comparison to net losses of $25.4 million for previous quarter and $1.3 billion for the same quarter in 2008.
Net sales for 2009 Q4, at $1.0 billion, reflected a 9 percent decrease from $1.1 billion in 2009 Q3, and a decrease of 29 percent from $1.4 billion in 2008 Q4. Weighted average mill selling price decreased 2 percent or $13 per ton compared to the third quarter of 2009, and decreased 33 percent or $296 per ton compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Finished steel shipments were 1.3 million tons, a decrease of 14 percent of 210,000 tons from 2009 Q3, and a decrease of 4 percent or 55,000 tons from 2008 Q4.
Full-year results for 2009 included a net loss of $161.7 million, compared to a net loss of $587.4 million in 2008. Net sales for 2009 were $4.2 billion, compared to net sales of $8.5 billion in 2008. Weighted average mill selling price for 2009 decreased 28 percent or $247 per ton compared to 2008, while finished steel shipments decreased 36 percent to 5.3 million tons for the full-year 2009 compared to 8.3 million tons for the same period in 2008.
Mario Longhi, President and CEO of Gerdau Ameristeel, said, “While minimal stimulus dollars were spent during 2009, we believe that more infrastructure projects will be undertaken during 2010. In addition, there are certain segments such as the nuclear power industry which we believe will begin committing significant investments to modernize the aging infrastructure in North America. We believe that these factors, along with low customer inventory levels and increases in shipments and selling prices that have occurred since the end of 2009, give us reason to enter 2010 with optimism for a better year.”