Feb. 20, 2013

Metals USA Reports Profitable 2012

 

Metals USA reported net income of $52.7 million in 2012 during what is expected to be the company's final year as an independent business. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based service center was acquired by service center giant Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. earlier this month.

Metals USA's 2012 income was down 18.4 percent from the previous year. Net sales for the full year totaled $1.98 billion, a 5.1 percent improvement. The company shipped 1.6 million tons in 2012, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

"During the fourth quarter the market continued to be impacted by too much steel chasing too few orders. A prevailing weak business environment, compounded with typical seasonality around the holidays, forced us to choose between preserving margin or sales volumes, and we chose to maintain margin. As a consequence, our Q4 gross margin of 23.2 percent was consistent with margins achieved throughout 2012," said Lourenço Gonçalves, the company's chairman, president and CEO.

In the fourth quarter, Metals USA's net sales totaled $437.5 million, down 3.9 percent from the same period in 2011. Net income fell from $14.0 million to $3.7 million, representing most of the company’s year-over-year decline. Fourth-quarter shipments of 353,000 tons were 8 percent higher than 2011.

“We believe the demand weakness experienced in late 2012 is now behind us and we have begun 2013 with well-positioned inventory and our usual attitude to profitably win market share through execution and customer service," said Gonçalves, who is expected to retire once the deal with Reliance is completed.