Driven by solid demand and increased prices, US-based Reliance Steel posted net sales of $11.5 billion for 2018, which represents an increase of 18.7% on-year over 2017, Kallanish reports.
“We experienced improved pricing conditions, healthy demand and excellent execution by our managers in the field. As a result, we generated the highest net sales in Reliance’s history of $11.53 billion, which, when combined with our solid gross profit margin of 28.4%, produced record gross profit dollars of $3.28 billion and our highest ever pretax income of $850.6 million,” says ceo Jim Hoffman.
Hoffman says Section 232 tariffs supported mill price increases through the first nine months of 2018, leading to an increase of 20.4% in Reliance’s average selling price.
“During the fourth quarter of 2018, demand remained healthy, subject to normal seasonal patterns, and overall metals pricing was relatively stable. However, the absence of meaningful mill price increases in the fourth quarter pressured our gross profit margin from elevated levels in the first three quarters of 2018,” he says.
Reliance reports net sales dropping to $2.8 billion in Q4 2018 as compared to Q3 net sales of $2.9 billion, a decrease of -5.4 %.
