Scrap export demand lands Schnitzer $10.3M profit in qtr.

Oct 27, 2009 | 11:46 AM | Frank Haflich

Although Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc.'s results fell sharply from last year, healthy scrap export demand in its fiscal fourth quarter helped return the company to profitability on a sequential basis. But softening demand in the current quarter is expected to pull ferrous scrap volumes down by more than 30 percent.

The Portland, Ore.-based scrap recycler, exporter and steel producer expects average ferrous and nonferrous net sales prices to grow slightly in its fiscal first quarter ending Nov. 30. However, forward prices on ferrous material have declined in recent weeks on both domestic and export markets.

Schnitzer's net income for the three months ended Aug. 31 totaled $10.3 million, down 91.9 percent from $126.4 million in the same period last year, on revenue that declined 57.7 percent to $556.2 million from $1.31 billion. The latest results represented an improvement, however, from the three months ended May 31, when Schnitzer posted a net loss of $1.5 million. Schnitzer's fiscal fourth-quarter per-share earnings of 36 cents beat Wall Street estimates by 5 cents.....