June 2008 -- Steel Dynamics Inc., the fifth-largest producer of carbon steel in the U.S. and one of the
nation's largest metals recyclers, reported record sales and earnings for the first quarter of
2008. Net income was $143 million, a 46% improvement from the comparable quarter in 2007, while
net sales were $1.9 billion, representing an increase of 31%. The positive gains reflect the
company's acquisitions of The Techs and OmniSource Corp. in 2007.
One major factor positively impacting the quarterly results was a significant improvement in
steel operations results. First quarter steel shipments of 1.6 million tons reflect increased
sequential shipping volumes by all six steelmaking operations. Keith Busse, chairman and CEO,
also pointed to the continued strengthening of the flat-roll steel market and the metals
recycling business. Prices for both flat-rolled steel and scrap climbed faster and higher than
the company had anticipated.
"Our outlook for 2008 continues to be very positive," Busse said in the company's April 21
quarterly statement. "Even with weakness in the U.S. economy, we continue to see strong demand
for flat-rolled steels, due principally to constrained domestic supply, low steel inventories,
and limited steel imports." He also added that "as long as global steel demand remains high and
global steel prices meet or exceed U.S. prices, we should expect that steel imports into the
U.S. will remain at a low level especially in light of a weak dollar. The path that resource
costs and product pricing will take in the second half of the year is uncertain, although we
believe that second quarter as well as third quarter domestic market conditions will remain
favorable, allowing us to adequately recover any increase in costs."
