Metals USA Holdings Corp. reported its results for the three and nine month periods ended 30 September 2012 and announced that it is initiating a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock.

Net sales for the third quarter of 2012 were $483.7 million, compared to net sales of $492.3 million for the third quarter of 2011. Third quarter 2012 shipments of 381,000 tons were 11.7% higher than the 341,000 tons shipped during the third quarter of 2011 and markedly above the -1.0% industry figure reported by the Metals Service Center Institute. Net income for the third quarter of 2012 was $13.7 million, compared to net income of $16.7 million in the third quarter of 2011. Earnings per diluted share were $0.37 in the third quarter of 2012 compared to $0.45 in the third quarter of 2011. Third quarter 2012 results include non-recurring pre-tax expenses of $0.01 per diluted share, incurred in connection with the August 2012 secondary offering of shares of common stock by certain investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC.

Net sales for the first nine months of 2012 were $1,546.1 million, up 8.1% from net sales of $1,430.2 million for the first nine months of 2011. Shipments for the first nine months of 2012 totaled 1,197,000 tons, 12.0% higher than the 1,069,000 tons shipped during the first nine months of 2011. Net income for the first nine months of 2012 was $49.0 million, compared to net income of $50.6 million for the first nine months of 2011. Earnings per diluted share were $1.31 for the first nine months of 2012, compared to $1.36 for the first nine months of 2011.

Lourenco Goncalves, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, stated, "Despite a third quarter characterized by a weak global business environment and no meaningful improvement in the domestic economy, Metals USA performed well and yet again delivered strong results. Our achievement of a 12% increase in year-over-year shipments, that partially offset price weakness and related margin compression, was further evidence of our growth momentum. We believe our high quality value-added processing and dependable service, along with our emphasis on maintaining adequate levels of inventory to serve existing and new customers while other service center companies are out of stock, are driving our continuing market share growth."

Mr. Goncalves continued, "As planned, we repositioned our working capital during the third quarter, which resulted in a decline in net debt of more than $50 million, and an increase in our liquidity to $230 million as of September 30th. In the process, we prepared our inventory mix for a fourth quarter that we do not expect to be worse than the third quarter, other than the normal impact of slower seasonal activity around Thanksgiving and year-end holidays.

"As Metals USA continues to serve the right customers in the right end markets, we expect to deliver another strong and profitable quarter. In addition to further decreasing our working capital and net debt in Q4, we will also continue to execute on our growth strategy by seeking out organic growth and acquisition opportunities that emphasize our value adding attributes," Mr. Goncalves concluded.

Net cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of 2012 was $49.8 million. Capital expenditures were $4.8 million for the three months ended 30 September 2012 and $13.3 million for the first nine months of 2012.