Ryerson Reports Third Quarter 2024 Results

Quarterly business highlights include operating cash flow of $134.6 million, Central Steel & Wire's University Park, IL distribution hub and service center open house, progress on expansion and modernization of the Shelbyville, KY non-ferrous processing center, closing of the Production Metals acquisition and entry into aerospace, defense, and semiconductor metals markets, and ongoing cost-reduction work across our North America service center network  

CHICAGO, Oct. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Highlights: 

• Generated $1.13 billion of revenue from 485,000 tons shipped and average selling price of $2,323 per ton
• Incurred Net Loss attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation of $6.6 million, or Diluted Loss Per Share of $0.20 and Adjusted EBITDA¹, excluding LIFO of $21.0 million as counter-cyclical and seasonal bottoming continues
• Generated Operating Cash Flow of $134.6 million and Free Cash Flow of $103.4 million
• Reduced inventory by $80.8 million on a FIFO cost basis², compared to the second quarter of 2024
• Returned $42.0 million to shareholders during the quarter, comprised of $36.0 million in share repurchases and $6.0 million in dividends
• Ended the quarter with debt of $522 million and net debt³ of $487 million as of September 30, 2024, compared to $525 million and $497 million, respectively, on June 30, 2024
• Progressing well towards $60 million of annualized cost reduction expectations from operating expenses⁴
• Acquired Production Metals, a value-added processor of aluminum, stainless, and specialty steel
• Hosted open house at Central Steel & Wire's University Park, IL distribution hub and service center for customers, suppliers, vendors, investors, and employees
• Declared a fourth-quarter 2024 dividend of $0.1875 per share

 A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP measure is included below in this news release.

Management Commentary
Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director, said, "I want to thank all my Ryerson teammates for working safely while striving to create an always improving Ryerson that delivers the industry's best customer experience safely, enjoyably, and productively. Two things can be true at the same time: 1) the industry is experiencing a cyclical bottoming marked by twenty-four months of moving average demand and price contraction; and 2) Ryerson's record investments in systems, capital expenditures, and acquisitions over this same period are positioning the company well for the next cyclical upturn. Over the third quarter we managed the business effectively through a contractionary industrial metals and manufacturing environment that produced compressed margins, most notably in carbon steels and across the commodity spectrum with lagging OEM customer contract price resets. Despite these challenges, we experienced improvements in key performance indicators including cash flow, expense and working capital management, and most importantly, we are seeing investment related growth pains and disruptions across our network beginning to subside as we move through the balance of 2024 with budding optimism for 2025. Ryerson has emerged more efficient and better through every previous counter-cycle and, looking forward, our optimization phase will bring together a greatly modernized service center network, enhanced value-added capabilities, across a digitally enabled enterprise to provide Ryerson's best-ever customer experience while setting the table for realization of our next stage financial targets."

Third Quarter Results
Ryerson generated net sales of $1.13 billion in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 8.1%, compared to the second quarter of 2024, and within our guidance expectations. Revenue performance during the quarter was impacted by seasonal and weather impacted volume declines of 4.5%, in addition to average selling prices decreasing 3.7%.

Gross margin contracted sequentially by 30 basis points to 17.9% in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 18.2% in the second quarter of 2024. Due to further declines in inventory costs, in the third quarter of 2024, LIFO income of $18 million was greater than our guidance expectations of LIFO income of $12 million. Excluding the impact of LIFO, gross margin contracted 110 basis points to 16.3% in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 17.4% in the second quarter. Gross margins continued to be under pressure in the quarter as demand conditions saw continuing contraction and selling price declines continued to outpace the decline in our average inventory costs.

Warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 1.1%, or $2.1 million, to $196.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $199.0 million in the second quarter of 2024. Cost reductions were noted in personnel-related expenses, operating expenses, and general administrative expenses. Decreases in expenses were partially offset by increases in start-up, pre-operating, and reorganization expenses associated with Ryerson investments in capital expenditures and acquisitions.

Net Loss Attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation for the third quarter of 2024 was $6.6 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared to net income of $9.9 million, or $0.29 per diluted share in the previous quarter. Ryerson generated Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, of $21.0 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to the second quarter of 2024 Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $42.6 million.

Liquidity & Debt Management
Ryerson generated $134.6 million of operating cash flow in the third quarter of 2024 due to a working capital release of $129 million. The Company ended the third quarter of 2024 with $522 million of debt and $487 million of net debt, sequential decreases of $3 million and $10 million, respectively, compared to the second quarter of 2024. Ryerson's net leverage ratio as of the third quarter of 2024 was 3.8x above the Company's target leverage range of 0.5x – 2.0x, but still well below Ryerson's prior 10-year average. Ryerson's global liquidity, composed of cash and cash equivalents and availability on its revolving credit facilities, decreased to $491 million as of September 30, 2024, compared to $585 million as of June 30, 2024.

Shareholder Return Activity

Dividends. On October 29, 2024, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share of common stock, payable on December 19, 2024, to stockholders of record as of December 5, 2024, unchanged from the prior quarter. During the third quarter of 2024, Ryerson's quarterly dividend amounted to a cash return of approximately $6.0 million. 

Share Repurchases and Authorization. Ryerson repurchased 1,849,017 shares for $36.0 million in the open market during the third quarter of 2024. Ryerson made these repurchases in accordance with its share repurchase authorization. As of September 30, 2024, $38.4 million remained under the existing authorization.

Outlook Commentary
For the fourth quarter of 2024, Ryerson expects customer shipments to seasonally and counter-cyclically decrease 8% to 10%, quarter-over-quarter. The Company anticipates fourth-quarter net sales to be in the range of $1.00 billion to $1.04 billion, with average selling prices between decreasing 1% to increasing 1%. LIFO income in the fourth quarter of 2024 is expected to be $10 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO in the range of $10 million to $12 million and loss per diluted share in the range of $0.53 to $0.47. 

Sales by Product Metrics
As we continue to integrate our acquisitions of the past eight quarters into our systems and processes, we have refined our methodology for allocating their net sales and tons to our major product categories. As such, in addition to the third quarter and the first nine months of 2024 product metrics provided here under the refined methodology, we are providing updated sales by product information from the first quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024 to provide comparable numbers. We note that consolidated net sales, tons shipped, and average selling price per ton as previously reported are unchanged and that the updates below are only at the product level. 

Earnings Call Information
Ryerson will host a conference call to discuss third quarter 2024 financial results for the period ended September 30, 2024, on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The live online broadcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com. A replay will be available at the same website for 90 days. 

About Ryerson
Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 4,300 employees and over 110 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com.

Notes:
¹For EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO please see Schedule 2
²FIFO cost basis is inventory cost excluding LIFO
³Net debt is defined as long term debt plus short term debt less cash and cash equivalents and excludes restricted cash
⁴Operating expenses are Warehousing, delivery, selling, general, and administrative expenses

Legal Disclaimer
The contents herein are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security ("Security") of the Company or its affiliates ("Ryerson") in any jurisdiction. Ryerson does not intend to solicit, and is not soliciting, any action with respect to any Security or any other contractual relationship with Ryerson. Nothing in this release, individually or taken in the aggregate, constitutes an offer of securities for sale or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any Security in the United States, or to U.S. persons, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful.

Safe Harbor Provision
Certain statements made in this release and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; the impact of geopolitical events; fluctuating metal prices; our indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; the influence of a single investor group over our policies and procedures; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our most recent our annual report on Form 10-K and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.

SOURCE Ryerson Holding Corporation