AK Steel reported a net loss of $53.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to net income of $33.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. Net sales for Q4 totaled $1.45 billion, compared to $1.68 billion in Q4 2018. Flat-rolled steel shipments in Q4 2019 totaled 1,259,500 net tons, compared to 1,388,700 net tons in Q4 2018.
In a press release, the company attributed the decline in income to “significantly lower spot market selling prices, lower shipments to the automotive market due primarily to the General Motors strike, and higher costs for iron ore, coal and coke during the current year fourth quarter,” which “more than offset lower costs for scrap and energy.”
For the full-year 2019, AK Steel reported net income of $11.2 million, compared to net income of $186.0 million for 2018. Net sales for the full year totaled $6.36 billion, compared to $6.82 billion in 2018. Flat-rolled steel shipments in the full-year 2019 totaled 5,342,200 net tons, compared to 5,683,400 net tons in 2018.
“We operated well in the face of very challenging market conditions during the fourth quarter,” said Roger K. Newport, Chief Executive Officer of AK Steel. “We successfully completed a major planned maintenance outage at our Dearborn Works in October and made significant investments in the blast furnace and steelmaking operations, which will generate substantial recurring cost savings. Also, during the fourth quarter we entered into a merger agreement with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. We continue to be excited about the value-creation potential of the transaction, which we anticipate will close on March 13, subject to regulatory review and shareholder approval.”