General Steel Estimates Earnings per Share of $0.08 to $0.12 for the Second Half of 2014
06/27/2014 - General Steel Holdings, Inc. ("General Steel" or the "Company") (NYSE: GSI), a leading non-state-owned steel producer in China, today announced that the Company is confident in its business turnaround and currently estimates earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.08 to $0.12 for the second half of 2014.
For the six months ending December 31, 2014, the Company currently projects:
- Sales to range from $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, on sales volume of approximately 3 million metric tons;
- Net income attributable to the Company to range from $4.5 million to $6.5 million; and
- EPS attributable to the Company to range from $0.08 to $0.12.
Henry Yu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Steel commented, "We are excited that the changing market fundamentals for the steel industry in China and our improved production efficiency gained over the past two years are clearly benefiting General Steel, providing us with greater confidence for a profitable second half of 2014. We are confident about our ability to command firm pricing on our steel products, as smaller competitors in our region have had to drastically reduce or shut down production due to their inability to obtain credit facilities. At the same time, we anticipate that our strong procurement capability and improved operational-efficiency will significantly lower our raw material and production costs. It is our expectation that this combination of firm pricing and lower costs drives higher gross profits."
"Benefitting from a higher gross margin and our diligent control of operating expenses, we are well on our way to earning positive net income for the month of June, and we see a clear path to earning positive net profits for the remainder of 2014. We feel very comfortable about our regional market leadership and believe our focused efforts to lower production costs are now bearing fruit. As such, we fully expect this recovering trend and positive momentum will continue well into 2015 and beyond," Mr. Yu concluded.
About General Steel
General Steel, headquartered in Beijing, China, produces a variety of steel products including rebar, high-speed wire and spiral-weld pipe. The Company has operations in China's Shaanxi and Guangdong provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Tianjinmunicipality with seven million metric tons of crude steel production capacity under management. For more information, please visit www.gshi-steel.com.