CINCINNATI — The AK Steel Holding Corporation said Tuesday that first quarter profit rose more than 60 percent, helped by soaring global steel prices and favorable labor contracts.þþThe chief executive, James Wainscott, said shipments and profits should continue to outpace the rising costs of raw materials.þþ”We expect the second quarter to be an even better quarter than our record-setting first quarter,” Mr. Wainscott told industry analysts, adding that the current period ”has the potential of being our best ever of any quarterly performance in the history of our company. Frankly, I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t.”þþThe company makes flat-rolled carbon steel, stainless and electrical steel and carbon and stainless tubular products used in cars and appliances.þþThe steelmaker reported net income of $101.1 million, or 90 cents a share, for the period ended March 31, compared with $62.7 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier. Results from the same period in 2007 included a pretax, non-cash pension charge of $15.1 million.þþQuarterly sales totaled $1.79 billion, compared with $1.72 billion a year ago.þþThe results were better than the profit of 82 cents a share and revenues of $1.78 billion forecast by Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.þþAK Steel was coming off a record fourth quarter, when it posted all-time highs in shipments and revenues, boosted by surging steel prices. The company said its average selling price for the first quarter hit a record $1,135 per ton, a 5 percent rise over the $1,078 in the first quarter of 2007 and $1,079 in the fourth quarter.þþThe company, based in West Chester, Ohio, expects second-quarter shipments of about 1.7 million tons, up about 8 percent from the first three months. But planned maintenance costs will be about $40 million higher, primarily because of a nearly three-week planned maintenance shutdown now under way at its Middletown Works blast furnace.þþThe temporary outage, which should end later this week, will not decrease shipments, Mr. Wainscott said.þþA company spokesman, Alan McCoy, said even though many traditional customers of United States steel mills, such as those in the automotive sector, have been hit by the economic slowdown, others such as those in the energy markets and commercial construction continue to show strong demand.þþMeanwhile, AK Steel’s new labor deal gave the steelmaker more freedom in scheduling, worker classifications and lowered health care costs. Mr. Wainscott noted that AK Steel has about 30 percent fewer employees systemwide than five years ago.þþ
Source: NY Times
