Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has reported third quarter 2018 net sales of $3.2 billion and net income of $398 million, or $1.69 share. The electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker says the quarterly results include charges of approximately $13 million associated with its acquisition of the Heartland Steel rolling operation.
The figures represent a 33.3 percent increase over third quarter 2017 net sales of $2.4 billion and a 160.1 percent increase of that quarter’s net income of $153 million. Year-to-date, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, SDI’s net income is $988 million ad its net sales figure is $8.9 billion. Those numbers represent a 94.5 percent increase from 2017’s first three quarters’ $508 million net income figure and a 23.6 percent increase from 2017’s first three quarters sales total of $7.2 billion.
SDI President and CEO Mark D. Millett says results for the third quarter just completed include “income from operations of $532 million and adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] of $626 million, [which] were both record highs for the company.” He adds, “Our strong financial performance was the result of record steel shipments, average steel selling price improvement, and resulting metal spread expansion across our steel operations.”
SDI’s OmniSource scrap operations contributed narrower profits, according to Millett. “Earnings from our metals recycling platform declined in the quarter primarily as a result of our nonferrous operations, as shipments and commodity prices declined. In addition, China’s decision to ban certain grades of recycled material has had a negative impact on nonferrous sales volume,” he comments.
Regarding the near-term future, Millett comments, “We remain confident that macroeconomic and market conditions are in place to benefit domestic steel consumption in 2019. Based on strong domestic steel demand fundamentals and customer optimism, we believe steel consumption will continue to be strong. In combination with our expansion initiatives, we believe there are firm drivers for our continued growth.”