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Allegheny Technologies Announces Second Quarter 2013 Results

07/24/2013 - As it reported its quarterly earnings results, Allegheny Technologies Inc. said weak economic growth in the U.S., negative growth in the Eurozone, and slower growth in China, India and other developing economies continued to negatively impact demand and create pricing pressure for its products from the chemical process industry, electrical energy, and construction and mining equipment markets.

Allegheny Technologies Inc. reported net income for the second quarter 2013 of US$4.4 million on sales of US$1.14 billion. For the second quarter 2012, ATI reported net income of US$56.4 million on sales of US$1.36 billion.
For the six months ended 30 June 2013, net income was US$14.4 million on sales of US$2.31 billion. For the six months ended 30 June 2012, net income was US$112.6 million on sales of US$2.71 billion.
“Challenging conditions in many of our end markets continued during the second quarter 2013,” said Rich Harshman, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Lackluster global demand for standard stainless and grain-oriented electrical steel products combined with excess global supply and falling raw material surcharges for stainless resulted in continuing pricing pressure and reduced margins on these products.
“Weak economic growth in the U.S., negative growth in the Eurozone, and slower growth in China, India and other developing economies continued to negatively impact demand and create pricing pressure for our products from the chemical process industry, electrical energy, and construction and mining equipment markets.
“Market fundamentals remained strong in the commercial aerospace, oil and gas, medical and automotive markets. However, consistently falling raw material prices, especially for nickel and titanium scrap, continued weak demand from the jet engine aftermarket, and aggressive inventory management actions throughout the supply chains, combined with relatively short lead times, continued to negatively impact short-term demand and prices for most of our products used in these markets.”
  • ATI’s sales to the key global markets of aerospace and defense, oil and gas/chemical process industry, electrical energy, and medical represented 69% of ATI first six months 2013 sales:
    • Sales to the aerospace and defense market represented 34% of ATI sales.
    • Sales to the oil and gas/chemical process industry represented 19% of ATI sales.
    • Sales to the electrical energy market represented 11% of ATI sales.
    • Sales to the medical market represented 5% of ATI sales.
  • Direct international sales represented 39% of ATI first half 2013 sales.
High-value products sales represented approximately 79% of ATI first half 2013 sales. Sales of nickel-based alloys and specialty alloys represented 24% of first half 2013 ATI sales. Sales of our titanium products, including Uniti joint venture conversion, represented 15% of first half 2013 ATI sales. Total titanium mill product shipments, including flat-rolled titanium products, were 9.3 million pounds in the second quarter 2013, bringing the first half total to 19.6 million pounds. Sales of precision forgings and castings represented approximately 13% of first half 2013 sales.
“Segment operating profit in the second quarter 2013 was approximately US$72 million, or 6.3% of sales,” Harshman noted. “Operating profit in the High Performance Metals segment was 13.9% of sales and was negatively impacted by reduced operating rates, and reduced raw material surcharges due to continued falling raw material prices not being aligned with higher raw material costs due to long manufacturing cycles for many of our products, and pricing pressures on transaction, or spot, business. In addition, the segment was impacted by low demand from the jet engine aftermarket, aggressive inventory management in the aerospace supply chain, reduced demand for forgings from the construction and mining equipment market, and low demand for zirconium products from the nuclear energy and chemical processing industry markets.
“Flat-Rolled Products segment operating profit was US$1.4 million, or 0.3% of sales, reflecting the challenging market conditions for standard stainless and grain-oriented electrical steel products, pricing pressures on high-value products, including industrial grade titanium products, and lower overall demand for many of our high-value flat-rolled products due to global economic conditions.
“Operating profit in our Engineered Products segment improved sequentially to US$3.1 million, or 3.1% of sales, from breakeven levels in the first quarter 2013, due primarily to improved demand for tungsten-based products.
“While the short-term remains challenging in many of our end markets, we are confident in the strong profitable growth opportunities for ATI over the next 3 to 5 years,” Harshman continued.
“In the short-term we continue to focus on issues within our control. Cost reduction remains a priority. We are accelerating our cost reduction efforts, resulting in more than US$79 million in gross cost reductions during the first six months 2013. This pace is well above our 2013 target of US$100 million in new cost reductions for the full year. These cost reductions are expected to benefit ATI operations later in 2013 and beyond. We are focused on reducing our managed working capital through a number of actions including lean initiatives to improve inventory turns. Managed working capital was reduced byUS$48 million in the second quarter 2013, compared to the first quarter 2013, and was reduced to 39.8% of annualized sales at the end of June 2013 from 41.1% at year-end 2012.
“An important strategy to reengineer and transform our Flat-Rolled Products segment and position this business as a significant profit contributor to ATI in the future is our US$1.2 billion investment in a new Hot-Rolling and Processing Facility (HRPF). This project is on schedule and on budget. As previously stated, the HRPF is expected to be production-ready by the end of 2013, with commissioning occurring throughout 2014. Beginning in 2015, we plan to idle the existing old and non-competitive hot strip mill and produce all ATI flat-rolled products using the HRPF. It is designed to significantly expand our product offering capabilities, shorten manufacturing cycle times, reduce inventory requirements, and improve the cost structure and profitability of our flat-rolled products business. We currently expect 2013 capital expenditures to be approximately US$575 million, with approximately 90% of this being associated with the HRPF.
“We remain on track to begin the premium quality (PQ) qualification process of our Rowley, Utah titanium sponge facility later this year. This facility has been producing industrial grade titanium sponge since the fourth quarter 2010 and standard quality (SQ) titanium sponge since the first quarter 2012. The chemistry of the sponge being produced is consistent with PQ requirements. As previously stated, due to lower demand for industrial grade titanium products from the global market, we have reduced the output at Rowley and are operating at approximately 60% of capacity. Although we have been operating at a less efficient rate, we continue to reduce sponge production costs. We will continue to assess the optimal production rates at Rowley based on market demand for SQ titanium products.
“Recently, we took actions to improve our financial flexibility and liquidity. With the support of our bank group, we modified the financial covenants of our US$400 million unsecured domestic borrowing facility, and extended the maturity date to 2018. There were no borrowings outstanding under this facility at the end of the second quarter 2013. Also, on July 12, 2013, we successfully issued US$500 million aggregate principal amount of 10-year notes. As a result of these actions, ATI currently has approximately US$1 billion of cash and available liquidity.”
Strategy and Outlook
“As we look ahead to the second half of 2013, we are not seeing any significant signs of changes in market conditions. The third quarter may prove to be even more challenging as it is traditionally the softest quarter of the year in many of our end markets, especially in Europe. We are encouraged by recent signs of stabilization in nickel and titanium scrap prices. If this continues, we may begin to see an improvement in demand and stabilization of selling prices beginning in the fourth quarter 2013. We believe many of our customers will continue to be cautious as near-term global economic uncertainties remain, lead times remain short, and raw materials prices, especially for nickel and titanium scrap, remain volatile.
“Looking beyond these short-term challenges, our strategy is to continue to ensure that ATI remains well-positioned for profitable growth over the next 3 to 5 years and beyond. Our unmatched diversification in specialty metals products, technology leadership, unsurpassed manufacturing capabilities, customer responsiveness, and increasingly competitive cost structure are key elements of our growth strategy. We continue to believe that market conditions remain favorable for long-term secular growth from our key markets of aerospace, oil and gas/chemical process industry, electrical energy, and medical.
“We came away from June’s Paris Air Show with increased confidence that the aerospace build rates are on schedule, and we were encouraged by the optimism of the OEMs and our customers throughout the supply chain. ATI displayed new and innovative products that illustrate our growing content of proprietary and advanced products for next-generation jet engines.”
Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results
  • Sales for the second quarter 2013 decreased 16% to US$1.14 billion compared to the second quarter 2012 as revenues continued to be impacted by lower base-selling prices for many of our products, falling raw material indices/surcharges, and decreased demand from the oil and gas/chemical process industry, jet engine aftermarket, electrical energy, and construction and mining markets. Compared to the second quarter 2012, sales decreased 14% in the High Performance Metals segment, 16% in the Flat-Rolled Products segment, and 26% in the Engineered Products segment. Direct international sales for the first six months of 2013 were 39% of total sales.
  • Second quarter 2013 segment operating profit was US$71.7 million, or 6.3% of sales, compared to segment operating profit of US$159.9 million, or 11.8% of sales, for the second quarter 2012. The decreases in operating profit were primarily due to lower shipments associated with most of our high-value and standard products, lower base-selling prices for many products, and the impact of higher raw material costs for products with longer manufacturing cycle times not aligned with lower raw material indices/surcharges.
  • Net income attributable to ATI for the second quarter 2013 was US$4.4 million, or US$0.04 per diluted share, compared to US$56.4 million, or US$0.50 per diluted share, in the second quarter 2012. Results for the second quarter 2013 included a US$2.6 million discrete tax benefit, primarily associated with adjustments of prior years’ taxes.
  • Cash flow provided by operations was US$115.4 million in the second quarter 2013 and US$58.0 million for the first six months of 2013. Managed working capital increased US$36.1 million in the first six months of 2013.
  • Cash on hand at the end of the second quarter 2013 was US$74.1 million. During the first six months of 2013, we invested US$223.7 million in capital expenditures, primarily related to the Flat-Rolled Products segment’s HRPF.
  • Gross cost reductions, before the effects of inflation, totaled US$79.4 million Company-wide in the first six months of 2013.
High Performance Metals Segment
Market Conditions
  • Demand remained weak in the second quarter 2013 for many of our products compared to the first quarter 2013. Mill product shipments of titanium and titanium alloys decreased 13%; nickel-based and specialty alloys decreased 10%; zirconium and related alloys increased 39%; and sales of precision forgings and castings increased 3% compared to the first quarter 2013. Sales in the second quarter 2013 to the aerospace market, the segment’s largest end market, decreased 7% compared to the first quarter 2013 on reduced airframe demand. Shorter lead times and available capacity has resulted in lower base-selling prices for certain transactional business. Direct international sales represented nearly 47% of total segment sales for the second quarter 2013.
Second quarter 2013 compared to second quarter 2012
  • Sales decreased to US$484.5 million, or by 14%, compared to the second quarter 2012 primarily as a result of lower mill product shipments of nickel-based and specialty alloys and zirconium and related alloys, and a decrease in sales of precision forged and cast components due to lower demand from the jet engine, construction and mining, nuclear energy, and oil and gas markets. In addition, lower raw material indices and lower base-selling prices negatively affected revenues.
  • Segment operating profit decreased to US$67.2 million, or 13.9% of sales, compared to US$102.2 million, or 18.1% of sales, for the second quarter 2012. The decrease in operating profit primarily resulted from lower shipment volumes for most products, the impact of higher raw material costs for products with longer manufacturing cycle times not aligned with falling raw material indices, and lower base-selling prices for some products.
  • Gross cost reductions in the segment totaled US$49.5 million in the first six months of 2013.
Flat-Rolled Products Segment
Market Conditions
  • Demand improved compared to the first quarter 2013 from the oil and gas/chemical process industry and automotive markets. Compared to the first quarter 2013, shipments increased 6% for high-value products, which includes titanium, nickel-based alloys, Precision Rolled Strip® products, and grain-oriented electrical steel. Second quarter 2013 Flat-Rolled Products segment titanium shipments, including Uniti joint venture conversion, were 3.0 million pounds, a 2% decrease compared to the first quarter 2013. Shipments of standard stainless (sheet and plate) products declined 3% compared to the first quarter 2013. Direct international sales represented nearly 37% of total segment sales for the second quarter 2013. Flat-Rolled Products shipment information is presented in the attached Selected Financial Data – Mill Products table.
Second quarter 2013 compared to second quarter 2012
  • Sales decreased 16% compared to the second quarter 2012 to US$552.2 million, primarily due to lower shipments of both high-value and standard products, lower base-selling prices, and lower raw material surcharges. Shipments of standard stainless products decreased 8% and shipments of high-value products declined 7%. Average transaction prices for all products, which include surcharges, declined 9%. Average base-selling prices remain at historically low levels for standard stainless products.
  • Segment operating profit was US$1.4 million, or 0.3% of sales, compared to US$44.5 million, or 6.8% of sales, for the second quarter 2012, reflecting a sales mix of more standard stainless products, and lower base-selling prices and margins for most products.
  • Gross cost reductions in the segment totaled US$25.3 million in the first six months of 2013.
Engineered Products Segment
Market Conditions
  • Compared to the first quarter 2013, demand was slightly improved from the oil and gas and aerospace markets, but was lower from the construction and mining and transportation markets.
Second quarter 2013 compared to second quarter 2012
  • Sales decreased 26% to US$98.8 million, compared to the second quarter 2012, primarily as a result of lower overall demand for tungsten-based products and carbon alloy steel forgings.
  • Segment operating profit was US$3.1 million for the second quarter 2013 compared to US$13.2 million in the second quarter 2012. Segment operating profit for the second quarter 2013 was negatively impacted by higher raw material inventory costs for tungsten-based products and lower business activity across most operating units in this segment.
  • Gross cost reductions in the segment totaled US$4.6 million in the first six months of 2013.
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated is one of the largest and most diversified specialty metals producers in the world with revenues of approximately US$4.6 billion for the last twelve months. ATI has approximately 10,900 full-time employees world-wide who use innovative technologies to offer global markets a wide range of specialty metals solutions. Our major markets are aerospace and defense, oil and gas/chemical process industry, electrical energy, medical, automotive, food equipment and appliance, machine and cutting tools, and construction and mining. Our products include titanium and titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys and superalloys, grain-oriented electrical steel, stainless and specialty steels, zirconium, hafnium, and niobium, tungsten materials, forgings, castings and fabrication and machining capabilities.