On January 25, Pittsburgh-based steelmaker US Steel issued its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 and the whole year.
US Steel reported a net loss of $249 million compared with a net loss of $51 million in the third quarter of 2010 and a net loss of $267 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
The company reported fourth quarter net sales of $4.3 billion, a four percent decrease from $4.5 billion in the previous quarter. The net sales in the fourth quarter of 2009 were $3.35 billion. US Steel shipped 5.48 million net tons in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with 5.56 million nt in the previous quarter and 4.65 million nt in the corresponding period of 2009.
For the full year of 2010, US Steel reported a net loss of $482 million, compared with a full-year 2009 net loss of $1.4 billion. Net sales for 2010 totaled $17.37 billion, versus $11.05 billion in 2009. Shipments during the year in question increased to 22.32 million net tons from 14.98 million net tons in 2009.
"Other items not allocated to segments in the fourth quarter of 2010 included a pre-tax net gain of $21 million related to the sale of transportation assets in Alabama as well as the sale of the bar mill and bloom and billet mill assets located at Hamilton Works. These items increased net income by $11 million," US Steel said.
US Steel expects modest improvement in current quarter
Commenting on the results, US Steel chairman and CEO John P. Surma said, "We reported a modest improvement in our fourth quarter operating results in comparison to the third quarter mainly due to reduced spending for facility repair and maintenance, including structural repairs and inspections, and a net gain related to asset sales. The improvements were partially offset by decreases in realized prices and a reduction in total shipments, reflecting soft steel market conditions during most of the quarter and the traditional seasonal downtime taken by some of our customers during the latter part of the quarter."
On US Steel's outlook for the first quarter, Surma said, "We expect to report a modest improvement in reportable segment results in comparison to the fourth quarter 2010. Order rates for most customer groups and publicly reported spot market prices began to increase later in the fourth quarter and we remain cautiously optimistic that global economic conditions will continue to improve in the first quarter."