Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS), Los Angeles, CA, reported sales for the second quarter of $2.5 billion, up 10.8 percent from the second quarter of 2012. Profit for the quarter fell 25.6 percent to $81 million.
Reliance completed the acquisition of Metals USA on April 12.
“Second quarter same store tons sold increased 3.7 percent compared to the prior quarter,” said David H. Hannah, CEO. “However, the weak pricing environment continued, leading to a 2.7 percent reduction in our same store average price per ton sold, relative to the first quarter. In general for the 2013 second quarter, both demand and pricing were a bit weaker than we anticipated.”
Aerospace was mixed during the second quarter as pricing and overall volumes declined slightly compared to the prior year. Reliance expects that demand in the aerospace market will improve through 2013.
Automotive, supported by the company’s toll processing operations in the U.S. and Mexico, exhibited continued strong and steady demand during the quarter. Reliance continues to anticipate strength in automotive throughout 2013.
Energy (oil and gas) continues to perform well, despite lower demand levels as compared to the second quarter of 2012. Demand is expected to increase modestly in 2013, with continued pressure on pricing due to excess industry capacity.
Heavy industry continues to perform reasonably well, and the company expects modest growth in this end-market.
Non-residential construction continued to show signs of a slow but steady recovery, although still at significantly reduced demand levels from its peak. During the second quarter, North American industrial construction related to manufacturing and energy continued to exhibit the most improvement. Reliance is cautiously optimistic that this important end-market will improve modestly as 2013 progresses.
For the first six months, sales for Reliance were $4.5 billion, a decrease of 0.5 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Profit fell 26.8 percent to $164.7 million.
