Castle Cuts Losses in Second Quarter
By
Metal Center News Staff on
Aug 17, 2020
A.M. Castle reported net sales of $87.7 million in the second quarter, a 42.7 percent decline from the same quarter in 2019. Sales were down 33.3 percent compared with the prior quarter.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based specialty metals distributor reported a net loss of $4.1 million, an improvement of $4.2 million from the same quarter in 2019.
“First and foremost, I want to thank all of our Castle teammates around the globe for their dedication in keeping our Castle family healthy and safe while providing excellent service to our customers during these unprecedented times,” said President and CEO Marec Edgar. “The hard-work, flexibility and adherence to strict illness prevention guidelines at all of our locations has allowed Castle, as an essential business, to remain operational throughout the pandemic, albeit at varying levels of volume aligned with the needs of our customers.
"From an operational perspective, in light of the acute and immediate decreases in volume and revenue in both our industrial and aerospace end-markets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am pleased that Castle was able to generate positive EBITDA of $1.6 million in the quarter while improving gross material margin performance to 28.1 percent, which is higher on both a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis.”
During the pandemic, Castle has used a variety of government-sponsored support programs such as tax deferrals, employment-related subsidies, government-backed relief loans, and other government relief available in the U.S. and in other countries in which we operate. In April, the company qualified for a $10 million loan under the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the Small Business Association pursuant to the CARES Act.”
"Though there are some signs of stabilization as economies around the world begin to reopen, we expect revenue and volume to remain suppressed in the near to medium-term as the ultimate duration and severity of the dislocation caused by COVID-19, and the timing and scope of any economic recovery thereafter remains uncertain,” Edgar said.