Schnitzer Steel reports record sales figures for Q1
Leading US ferrous metals recycler Schnitzer Steel Industries reported its net sales for the first quarter of 2006 ended November 30, 2005 totaled $389 million, a whopping 51 percent increase from first quarter 2005 sales, which totaled $199 million.
Several recycling businesses Schnitzer acquired in the first quarter 2006, as well as the overall health of the
scrap market, helped to boost earnings from the company's Metals Recycling segment.
The company's net income for the first quarter was $42 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $43 million earned in the first quarter of 2005. The company's net income suffered to the tune of $11 million due to a reserve taken by the company for the estimated amount needed to settle an ongoing government investigation into the company's past payment practices in Asia.
President and CEO John D. Carter commented on the company's first quarter results:
"Schnitzer Steel began its 100th year of operation with another solid quarter. The positive long-term fundamentals supporting all our business segments remain intact. We are currently working though a number of short-term steps to integrate our newly acquired businesses and build a foundation for the future, and we continue to look to that future with great optimism."
The company expects a number of factors to affect its profitability in the second quarter, including: uncertainty in the Asian export markets, with domestic markets expected to remain stronger than export markets; declines in export sales prices; a rebound of ferrous
scrap volumes in the domestic processing business; and an increase in steel prices, with even higher prices on the West Coast.
Schnitzer Steel one of the nation's largest recyclers of ferrous metals with a significant presence on the US West Coast, the Northeastern seaboard, and the Southeast, as well as a
trading business that sources
scrap and sells recycled metals products in foreign markets. The company also owns and operates at approximately 50 used auto parts locations in the U.S. and in western
Canada and is a manufacturer of finished steel with a
production capacity of approximately 700'000 tons of finished steel annually.