ISA reports loss for year

Louisville, Kentucky-based Industrial Services of America Inc. (ISA) has reported a net loss of $349,000 for its fiscal year 2018, which is a narrower loss compared to 2017’s fiscal year loss of $1.1 million. ISA says its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) improved to $2.6 million for the year compared with an adjusted EBITDA of $2 million for the prior year.

The scrap recycling company cites the restart of its auto shredder in May 2018, as well as improvements in ISA’s ferrous volumes and margins from 2017 to 2018, as key reasons for the improvement in numbers for the year.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, ISA reported a net loss of $705,000 compared with a net loss of $306,000 for the fourth quarter of 2017.

The company says its sharp loss for the quarter was “significantly impacted” by global political events, including tariffs, trade wars and other global economic events. Ferrous market prices and volumes also were negatively impacted by economic stress in Turkey, one of the largest importers of United States ferrous scrap metal, according to ISA.

Pricing and volumes were further challenged by uncertainty created by tariffs and threatened trade wars. Nonferrous market prices and volumes were similarly impacted by tariffs and threatened trade wars, as well as certain restrictions placed by China on imported metals, adds ISA.