Worthington's Sales Down, Earnings Up
By
Metal Center News Staff on
Oct 1, 2023
Worthington Industries Inc., Columbus, Ohio, reported net sales of $1.2 billion and net earnings of $96.1 million for its first quarter, which ended Aug. 31. Net sales were down 14.3 percent and net earnings were up 50 percent from the first quarter in the previous fiscal year.
“We had a strong first quarter driven by solid results from our Steel Processing and Building Products segments,” said Andy Rose, president and CEO. “Steel Processing saw healthy demand across most of their key end markets while Building Products benefitted from strong contributions from both WAVE and ClarkDietrich combined with growth in our wholly owned businesses. Our Consumer Products business faced headwinds due to weather, customer destocking and lower consumer spending, but we believe demand and margins should improve in the coming quarters.”
Steel Processing’s net sales for the first quarter totaled $881.3 million, down 21.7 percent compared with the prior-year quarter, driven almost entirely by lower average selling prices. The mix of direct tons versus toll tons processed was 56 to 44 percent in the current-year quarter, compared to 58 to 42 percent in the prior-year quarter.
Excluding the impact of the prior-year divestiture of the WSP toll processing facility, toll volumes were up 19 percent while direct tons were down 1 percent.
“Our businesses continue to perform well despite some economic uncertainty and signs that consumers are stretched," Rose said. “We continue to make good progress on our Worthington 2024 plan, which will create two, distinct market-leading companies, Worthington Enterprises and Worthington Steel, and we are on-track to complete the separation as early as December.”