Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. reported today its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009. For the 2009 first quarter, net income was $20.1 million compared with net income of $107.4 million for the 2008 first quarter. Earnings per diluted share were $.27 for the 2009 first quarter, compared with earnings of $1.46 per diluted share for the 2008 first quarter. Sales for the 2009 first quarter were $1.56 billion, compared with 2008 first quarter sales of $1.91 billion. The 2009 first quarter financial results include in cost of sales a pre-tax LIFO income amount of $75.0 million, or $.68 per diluted share, compared with a pre-tax LIFO expense amount of $17.5 million, or $.15 per diluted share, for the 2008 first quarter.

David H. Hannah, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Reliance said, “Our tons sold for the 2009 first quarter were down 1% and our average price per ton sold was down 16% compared to the 2008 first quarter. However, on a “same-store” basis, excluding our 2008 acquisitions, our tons sold were down 34% and our average price per ton sold was flat for the 2009 first quarter compared to the 2008 first quarter. Comparing our 2009 first quarter to the 2008 fourth quarter, our tons sold were down 14% and our average price per ton sold was down 15%. For the 2009 first quarter carbon steel sales were 58% of our revenues; aluminum sales were 17%; stainless steel sales were 12%; alloy sales were 8%; other sales were 3% and toll processing sales were 2%.”

“Business remains difficult across all of our products, evidenced by weak demand and soft prices. Additionally, there is no geographic region that is significantly better or worse than any other. As for the industries where we sell our products, our aerospace and energy related sales are still reasonably good, especially compared to other markets, but still down from last year,” Hannah said.

Hannah further stated, “Given this economic environment, we are proud to have remained profitable, albeit at earnings per share levels we have not seen since the 2001 to 2003 period. During these difficult times we have focused our efforts, in addition to maintaining profitable operations, on working capital management, cash flow, and debt reduction. During the 2009 first quarter we generated cash flow from operations of $315 million, or $4.29 per share. We repaid $310 million of debt during the quarter, bringing our net debt-to-total capital ratio to 36.9% compared to 41.4% at the end of 2008. As of March 31, 2009, we had only $174 million outstanding on our $1.1 billion unsecured revolving credit facility. We expect the balance on the revolving credit facility to be zero before the end of the second quarter, with net debt-to-total capital below 35% at that time.”

“We have a high variable cost structure and approximately 60% of our operating expenses are personnel related. Because of the lower demand levels experienced over the past six months, we have reduced our workforce by almost 1,800 employees, or 16%, and taken other personnel cost saving actions, which we expect to continue,” commented Hannah.

“There is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding economic conditions and the timing of any recovery. While we believe that we should see the beginnings of improvement later in the quarter, given that pricing for some carbon steel products may trend downward a little further, that demand may soften a bit more, and that service centers will continue to reduce inventories, we currently estimate earnings per diluted share of $.15 to $.20 for the 2009 second quarter,” concluded Hannah.

On April 21, 2009, the Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $.10 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on June 22, 2009 to shareholders of record June 1, 2009. The Company has paid regular quarterly dividend payments for 49 consecutive years.