Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Roanoke Electric Steel sees hot sales
The latest from The Ticker blog
duncan.adams@roanoke.com 981-3324
In this case China has been good for a local business.
China's economic and building boom and a related demand for scrap steel have driven up prices for scrap, resulting in higher selling prices in the United States for steel products themselves. Although China's demand has slipped recently, a recovering U.S. economy and higher selling prices have helped fire Roanoke Electric Steel's remarkable turnaround from a year ago.
"What a difference a year makes," said Joe Crawford, the company's vice president of administration. "At this time last year we were at the point where we just couldn't give it away and now we can't make it fast enough."
In second-quarter results released Tuesday, Roanoke Electric Steel reported its revenues "were the highest of any quarter in the history of our company." Sales were up 54 percent, to about $119 million, when compared to the same period last year.
In a news release, Don Smith, chairman and chief executive officer, attributed increased revenues to "improved selling prices and shipments of most products." Smith said the company's mills are busy and that subsidiaries could be helped by signs of strengthening in nonresidential construction.
Roanoke Electric Steel has steel manufacturing plants in Roanoke and in Huntington, W.Va., producing angles, rounds, flats, channels, beams, special sections and billets, which are sold to steel service centers, fabricators, original equipment manufacturers and other steel producers. Five subsidiaries are involved in steel-related activities, consisting of scrap processing and bar joist, reinforcing bar and truck trailer beam fabrication.
On Tuesday, the company's stock price closed at $13.40, up $1.30 from the previous day's close.
