US Steel reports significant loss
United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, has reported a second quarter 2015 net loss of $261 million, or $1.79 per share. The results include a $136 million write-down of the company’s interest in U.S. Steel Canada (USSC) and a net loss of $10 million related to other charges. The results compare to a second quarter 2014 net loss of just $18 million, or 12 cents per share, and a first quarter 2015 net loss of $75 million, or 52 cents per share.
The financial struggles of the company’s USSC subsidiary were reported in this July 22 RecyclingToday.com news item.
“We’ve taken aggressive and decisive actions to address the extremely challenging conditions we continue to face in North America,” says U. S. Steel President and CEO Mario Longhi. “Our efforts, combined with short-term cost improvements, have helped to partially offset the continued depressed volumes and low prices in both the tubular and flat-rolled markets as well as the negative impact of tremendously high levels of imports. U.S. trade laws have been strengthened by the signing of the Trade Adjustment Assistance bill, which will improve the means by which domestic companies may seek relief from unfairly traded imports.”
Referring to the Canadian operations, comments accompanying the second quarter results state in part, “During the second quarter of 2015, management continued to assess the recoverability of our retained interest in USSC, and as a result of this assessment we recorded a $255 million non-cash, pre-tax charge to write-down our retained interest in USSC. Further information will be provided in our Form 10-Q.”
The company also says that “despite the significantly challenging market conditions,” it maintained positive operating cash flow of $215 million for the six months ending June 30, 2015.
Regarding the near-term future, U.S. Steel’s comments state, “We currently expect commercial conditions to improve in the second half of 2015 from the conditions we experienced in the first half, as supply chain inventories continue to rebalance, primarily in our flat-rolled markets.”
Source: Recycling Today
US Steel reports significant loss
United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, has reported a second quarter 2015 net loss of $261 million, or $1.79 per share. The results include a $136 million write-down of the company’s interest in U.S. Steel Canada (USSC) and a net loss of $10 million related to other charges. The results compare to a second quarter 2014 net loss of just $18 million, or 12 cents per share, and a first quarter 2015 net loss of $75 million, or 52 cents per share. The financial struggles of the company’s USSC subsidiary were reported in this July 22 RecyclingToday.com news item. “We’ve taken aggressive and decisive actions to address the extremely challenging conditions we continue to face in North America,” says U. S. Steel President and CEO Mario Longhi. “Our efforts, combined with short-term cost improvements, have helped to partially offset the continued depressed volumes and low prices in both the tubular and flat-rolled markets as well as the negative impact of tremendously high levels of imports. U.S. trade laws have been strengthened by the signing of the Trade Adjustment Assistance bill, which will improve the means by which domestic companies may seek relief from unfairly traded imports.” Referring to the Canadian operations,…