Boston, MA 04/23/2014 (wallstreetpr) – AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS), a known name for producing electrical and stainless steel, and flat rolled carbon for diverse markets, released its financial report on April 22, 2014. The company that serves construction, manufacturing, automotive, infrastructure, and electric power generation sectors reported the financial earnings of 1Q2014, blowing away all the curiosity and anticipation.
Results are depressing
However, the report is not that cheering. The company suffered a net loss in the 1Q2014 of $86.1 million. The loss is equivalent to $0.63 on every diluted share of the company’s common stock. The figures are indeed depressing in this year compared to the previous year. In the 1Q2013, AK Steel reported a net loss of $9.9 million and a net income of $35.2 million in 4Q2013.
The net sales figures are also discouraging keeping in mind that of the last year. In 1Q2014, AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) experienced total shipments of 1,262,100 tons, while the figure stood at 1,289,800 tons for 1Q2013 and much higher at 1,420,000 tons for the last quarter a year ago. However, there is nothing to be highly unhappy about the net sales. It is $1.38 million in the 1Q2013, which was nearly the same in the first quarter of the last year, though the company recorded net sales of $1.46 million in the ending quarter of 2013.
Well, the company has reason for its reduced shipments. The cause for the loss is solely due to the consequence of the already revealed incident of AK Steel’s Ashland Works blast furnace. The company witnessed an overall decline in the shipments of carbon steel and electrical steel to the spot market. However, this reduction is partially compensated by increased automotive shipments. The production costs were significantly higher in 1QQ2014 because of extreme cold weather in the U.S. that in turn affected the operations.
A light of encouragement on the other hand
AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) reported that its mean selling price was $1,096 per ton for 1Q2014; 3% over and above that of 1Q2013 and 6% higher than that of 4Q2014. AK Steel also ended its last quarter with strong liquidity of $787 million.
