FORT WAYNE, Ind., April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

First Quarter 2022 Performance Highlights:

• Record steel shipments of 2.9 million tons
• Record net sales of $5.6 billion
• Record operating income of $1.5 billion and net income of $1.1 billion
• Record steel fabrication operating income of $467 million and near record shipments of 210,000 tons
• Record cash flow from operations of $819 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 billion
• Increased first quarter 2022 cash dividends by 31 percent and repurchased $389 million of the company's common stock, representing 3 percent of its outstanding shares

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ/GS: STLD) today announced first quarter 2022 financial results. The company reported first quarter 2022 net sales of $5.6 billion and net income of $1.1 billion, or $5.71 per diluted share. Excluding the impact from the following item, the company's first quarter 2022 adjusted net income was $1.2 billion, or $6.02 per diluted share.

• Costs of approximately $84 million, or $0.31 per diluted share (net of capitalized interest), associated with the continued startup of the company's Sinton Texas Flat Roll Steel Mill growth investment.

Comparatively, the company's sequential fourth quarter 2021 earnings were $5.49 per diluted share, with adjusted earnings of $5.78 per diluted share excluding additional performance-based companywide compensation of approximately $0.08 per diluted share, a contribution to the company's charitable foundation of $0.04 per diluted share, and costs of $0.18 per diluted share (net of capitalized interest), associated with construction and startup of the Texas Flat Roll Steel Mill. Prior year first quarter earnings were $2.03 per diluted share, with adjusted earnings of $2.10 per diluted share, excluding costs of $0.07 per diluted share (net of capitalized interest), associated with construction of the company's Texas Flat Roll Steel Mill.

"The team delivered another tremendous performance, achieving record quarterly operating and financial performance, including record sales, operating income, cash flow from operations, and adjusted EBITDA," said Mark D. Millett, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. "Our first quarter 2022 operating income was $1.5 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 billion. This record performance displays the power of our highly diversified, value-added, circular manufacturing model — as the strength in our steel fabrication operations more than offset moderation in our flat roll steel business, as realized hot roll coil selling values declined from peak 2021 levels during the quarter. Flat roll steel prices have recently firmed with extending delivery lead-times, related to strong demand dynamics, coupled with higher input costs and global flat roll steel supply disruptions. The automotive, construction, and industrial sectors continue to lead steel demand. We are also starting to see a significant increase in steel demand from the energy sector.

"We also achieved record cash flow from operations of $819 million in the first quarter 2022, while at the same time increasing shareholder distributions, investing in growth, and supporting increased working capital needs based on market dynamics and increased volume," said Millett. "In February, we increased our quarterly cash dividend by 31 percent and authorized an additional $1.25 billion share repurchase program, reflecting our confidence in the consistency and strength of cash generation capabilities, in alignment with our growth initiatives.

"The teams achieved strong operating and financial results across all of our operating platforms," continued Millett. "First quarter operating income from our steel and metals recycling operations remained very strong at $1.2 billion and $48 million, respectively. Earnings from our steel fabrication operations soared to $467 million, more than the entirety of full-year 2021 record results, based on significantly higher realized selling values and a continued strong construction demand environment. Steel joist and deck pricing and order activity continues to be robust, supporting our continued record order backlog with higher forward pricing."  

First quarter 2022 operating income for the company's steel operations remained strong at $1.2 billion, but lower than record sequential fourth quarter results of $1.4 billion. The decline in earnings resulted from metal spread compression within the company's flat roll operations, as hot roll coil pricing moderated. Alternatively, pricing and metal spreads expanded within the company's long product steel businesses. The first quarter 2022 average external product selling price for the company's steel operations decreased just over $100 sequentially to $1,561 per ton. The average ferrous scrap cost per ton melted at the company's steel mills decreased $16 sequentially to $474 per ton.

First quarter operating income from the company's metals recycling operations remained strong at $48 million slightly above fourth quarter sequential results, based on improved metal spread offsetting modestly lower shipments.

The company's steel fabrication operations reported record operating income of $467 million in the first quarter 2022, almost double sequential fourth quarter results, as significantly higher selling values and strong shipments, more than offset marginally higher steel input costs. The non-residential construction sector remains strong, resulting in a record order backlog with record forward-pricing for the company's steel fabrication platform. The company anticipates this momentum to continue through 2022 based on these dynamics.

Based on the company's differentiated business model and highly variable cost structure, the company generated cash flow from operations of $819 million during the quarter. The company also invested $159 million in capital investments, paid cash dividends of $51 million, and repurchased $389 million of its outstanding common stock representing three percent of its outstanding stock, while maintaining strong liquidity of $2.4 billion as of March 31, 2022.

"We remain confident that market conditions are in place for domestic steel consumption to continue to be strong this year and into 2023," said Millett. "Order entry activity continues to be robust across all of our businesses. We believe steel prices will remain supported by strong demand, balanced customer inventory levels, and elevated raw material costs. We believe the automotive, industrial, and energy sectors will remain solid steel consumers this year, with demand from the construction sector at the lead. Our steel fabrication operations order backlog remains at record volume and forward pricing levels. This combined with continued robust order activity and broad customer optimism, supports strong overall demand dynamics for the construction industry. We believe this overall momentum will continue and that our second quarter 2022 consolidated earnings should represent another record quarterly performance.

"We believe there are strong drivers for our continued growth and remain in a position of strength. Operations continue to ramp at our new Sinton Flat Roll Steel Mill. The team has done a great job with commissioning and starting up the steel mill. Based on our current forecast, we estimate 2022 shipments to be in the range of 1.5 million tons. We are also investing approximately $500 million to build four additional value-added flat roll steel coating lines comprised of two paint lines and two galvanizing lines with Galvalume® coating capability, a set of which will be located onsite at our new Texas steel mill, providing our new Texas steel mill with the same diversification and higher-margin product capabilities as our two existing flat roll steel divisions. The other two lines will be placed at our Heartland Flat Roll Division located in Terre Haute, Indiana to support growing coated flat roll steel demand in the region and to further increase the diversification and cash generation capacity of our existing Midwest operations. Based on current plans, we believe these four lines will begin operating mid-2023.

"Our commitment is to the health and safety of our teams, families, and communities, while meeting the current and future needs of our customers. Our culture and business model continue to positively differentiate our performance from the rest of the industry. We are competitively positioned and focused to generate long-term sustainable value," concluded Millett.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. will hold a conference call to discuss first quarter 2022 operating and financial results on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. You may access the call and find dial-in information on the Investors section of the company's website at www.steeldynamics.com.  A replay of the call will be available on our website until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 27, 2022.

Steel Dynamics is one of the largest domestic steel producers and metals recyclers in the United States, based on estimated annual steelmaking and metals recycling capability, with facilities located throughout the United States, and in Mexico. Steel Dynamics produces steel products, including hot roll, cold roll, and coated sheet steel, structural steel beams and shapes, rail, engineered special-bar-quality steel, cold finished steel, merchant bar products, specialty steel sections and steel joists and deck. In addition, the company produces liquid pig iron and processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap.

The company reports its financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Management believes that Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP financial measures, provide additional meaningful information regarding the company's performance and financial strength. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, the company's reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because not all companies use identical calculations, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA included in this release may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

This press release contains some predictive statements about future events, including statements related to conditions in domestic or global economies, conditions in steel and recycled metals marketplaces, Steel Dynamics' revenues, costs of purchased materials, future profitability and earnings, and the operation of new, existing or planned facilities. These statements, which we generally precede or accompany by such typical conditional words as "anticipate", "intend", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "seek", "project", or "expect", or by the words "may", "will", or "should", are intended to be made as "forward-looking," subject to many risks and uncertainties, within the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements speak only as of this date and are based upon information and assumptions, which we consider reasonable as of this date, concerning our businesses and the environments in which they operate. Such predictive statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and we undertake no duty to update or revise any such statements. Some factors that could cause such forward-looking statements to turn out differently than anticipated include: (1) domestic and global economic factors; (2) global steelmaking overcapacity and imports of steel, together with increased scrap prices; (3) pandemics, epidemics, widespread illness or other health issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; (4) the cyclical nature of the steel industry and the industries we serve; (5) volatility and major fluctuations in prices and availability of scrap metal, scrap substitutes, and our potential inability to pass higher costs on to our customers; (6) cost and availability of electricity, natural gas, oil, or other energy resources are subject to volatile market conditions; (7) increased environmental, greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability considerations or regulations; (8) compliance with and changes in environmental and remediation requirements; (9) significant price and other forms of competition from other steel producers, scrap processors and alternative materials; (10) availability of an adequate source of supply of scrap for our metals recycling operations; (11) cybersecurity threats and risks to the security of our sensitive data and information technology; (12) the implementation of our growth strategy; (13) litigation and legal compliance, (14) unexpected equipment downtime or shutdowns; (15) governmental agencies may refuse to grant or renew some of our licenses and permits required to operate our businesses; (16) our senior unsecured credit facility contains, and any future financing agreements may contain, restrictive covenants that may limit our flexibility; and (17) the impact of impairment charges.

More specifically, refer to Steel Dynamics' more detailed explanation of these and other factors and risks that may cause such predictive statements to turn out differently, as set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K under the headings Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors, in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, or in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These are available publicly on the Securities and Exchange Commission website, www.sec.gov, and on the Steel Dynamics website, www.steeldynamics.com under "Investors — SEC Filings". 

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SOURCE Steel Dynamics, Inc.