AK Steel Holdings Corp. AKS -6.36% said its third-quarter results will be weighed down by an unplanned furnace outage at a Kentucky plant and lower production levels.
The steel company said its Ashland Works blast furnace has returned to operation but continues to operate below normal levels. As a result, it plans to accelerate a planned outage to the fourth quarter from the first half of next year, which will dent its results in the third and fourth quarters.
The 28-day outage, starting in late October, is expected to bring down the company's third-quarter results by about $25 million. Fourth-quarter results will be affected by as much as $44 million due to repair and lost-production costs, the company said.
AK Steel said it expects shipments to fall by about 3% in the third quarter from the second quarter to 1.35 million tons, and it expects to report a profit of 5 cents to 10 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of 26 cents a share.
The company said strong demand from the automotive industry partly offsets the production slowdown.
The company also said Wednesday that its acquisition of the steel mill Severstal Dearborn LLC, which services the Detroit car industry, has received regulatory clearance. The company expects the deal to close in the third quarter, which could allow AK Steel to use the more-than-century-old mill while the Ashland Works furnace is down.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
- metaljunction »
- Metal News
Metal News & Events
METALJUNCTION PUBLICATIONS
Coal Insights (English) Monthly
Coal Insights is a ready reckoner for anyone associated with coal. This publication is aimed at tracking everything related to coal in India.
India Coal Market Watch(English) Monthly
ICMW is a one-stop source for all news, data and research pertaining to coal demand, consumption, stocks, spot- and long-term prices with respect to the Indian Market.
India Steel Market Watch (English) Monthly
ISMW is a brand new high-end steel market report, covering all aspects of the steel industry in India.
Steel Insights(English) Monthly
Steel Insights delves into various facets of the domestic and global steel industry such as market fundamentals, raw material price trends, price forecasts etc.