AK Steel to report quarterly profit again
Ohio-based steel producer AK Steel stated that it expects to record profit in the second quarter of 2004 amounting to almost $55 million. It is likely that this figure will be higher as the sale of the company's industrial park in Houston, Texas in April is not included in the expected profit. Company has been reporting losses for the last two years until first quarter of this year. Favorable results, over expectations, are attributed to shipments that were exceeding in numbers, better pricing in the spot market such as surcharges on alloy and scrap and ongoing cost reductions. It is certain that mentioned factors minimized the adverse effects of higher raw material and energy prices. AK Steel, releasing second quarter results on July 20, added that less maintenance cutbacks and continuing cost reduction implementations will lead improvements in operating results and profitability to go on both for the current quarter and second half of the year.