Commercial Metals Company Reports Record Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results

IRVING, Texas, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) today announced financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended May 31, 2021.  Earnings from continuing operations were $130.4 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.8 billion, compared to prior year earnings from continuing operations of $64.2 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.3 billion.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2021, the Company recorded a net after-tax benefit of $3.3 million, chiefly related to the sale of a small railway track reclamation business.  Excluding this item, third quarter adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $127.1 million, or $1.04 per diluted share, compared to adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $70.4 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, in the prior year period.  "Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations", "core EBITDA from continuing operations", "adjusted earnings from continuing operations" and "adjusted earnings from continuing operations per diluted share" are non-GAAP financial measures. Details, including a reconciliation of each such non-GAAP financial measure, to the most directly comparable measure, prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP can be found in the financial tables that follow.

Barbara R. Smith, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "CMC achieved exceptional results during the third quarter. Demand for our products was robust and our teams executed well, setting new production and shipment records at several of our facilities.  We continued to tightly manage the operating factors within our control, and again reduced year-over-year production costs per ton. Our excellent third quarter performance is a testament to the operational flexibility and earnings power of the new, strategically transformed CMC, and I could not be more proud of our many accomplishments."

Ms. Smith continued, "CMC set several operational and financial performance records at the segment as well as consolidated level, and we further enhanced our balance sheet and leverage positions, which are now the most attractive in CMC's history.  We are also continuing to build for the future: We made significant progress on key organic growth initiatives, including hot commissioning of our third rolling mill in Poland, the receipt of the air permit for our Arizona 2 mill, and the continuation of network optimization efforts. Future contributions from these key projects are expected to provide the next chapter of growth for our company, building on this quarter's outstanding results."

The Company's liquidity position as of May 31, 2021 remained solid, with cash and cash equivalents of $443.1 million, and availability of $639.0 million under the Company's credit and accounts receivable facilities.

On June 16, 2021, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share of CMC common stock payable to stockholders of record on June 30, 2021. The dividend will be paid on July 14, 2021, and marks 227 consecutive quarterly dividend payments by the Company.

Business Segments - Fiscal Third Quarter 2021 Review
The North America segment generated record adjusted EBITDA of $207.3 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, an increase of 30% compared to $159.4 million in the prior year period.  This improvement was driven by growth in demand and increased margins across multiple products lines, as well as solid management of controllable costs within our vertically integrated value chain.  Costs were reduced by continued execution of CMC's network optimization activities. 

Shipment volumes of finished steel, which include steel products and downstream products, increased by 9% from the prior year third quarter.  Demand for rebar from the mills remained good, growing year-over-year, supported by resilient construction activity.  Shipments of merchant and other products increased by 37% from the prior year, driven by the broad reopening of the U.S. economy. 

Margins over scrap cost on steel products increased $40 per ton from the prior year period, marking the first year-over-year increase in six quarters.  On a sequential basis these margins rose $74 per ton.  Market conditions were favorable for each of CMC's key products, leading to mill volume growth of 17% and an increase of $170 per ton in average selling price compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2020.  Margin over scrap cost on downstream products declined compared to a year ago, driven by higher scrap input costs and average pricing that was largely unchanged.  Future pricing indicators for backlog were positive during the quarter, as average price levels for bids and new awards increased from the prior year quarter. 

The Europe segment reported record adjusted EBITDA of $50.0 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, up 250% compared to adjusted EBITDA of $14.3 million for the prior year quarter.  The improvement was driven by a significant expansion in margin over scrap as well as volume growth, as demand for steel products from both construction and industrial end markets remained strong during the quarter.  Resilient construction activity supported a 16% increase in rebar shipments compared to a year ago, while the continuing manufacturing recovery in Poland and Central Europe drove 4% growth in volumes of merchant and other.  Average selling price increased by $227 per ton compared to the prior year quarter, and $132 per ton sequentially.

Outlook
Ms. Smith said, "Strong demand across multiple end-use markets should support robust shipment levels of finished steel during the fourth quarter in both North America and Europe.  Construction activity is strong and the industrial sectors are growing in both the U.S. and Central Europe, as both regions continue to recover from the pandemic.  We expect margins over scrap on steel products in North America and Europe to be relatively flat or up modestly from third quarter levels."

"Increased willingness of downstream customers in our North America segment to contract new work and the stability of our construction backlog both point to continued demand strength.  This view is supported by several widely monitored construction indicators that generally lead activity by nine to twelve months, which have improved significantly in 2021," Ms. Smith added.

Conference Call
CMC invites you to listen to a live broadcast of its third quarter of fiscal 2021 conference call today, Thursday, June 17, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. ET.  Barbara R. Smith, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Paul Lawrence, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will host the call. The call is accessible via our website at www.cmc.com. In the event you are unable to listen to the live broadcast, the call will be archived and available for replay on our website on the next business day. Financial and statistical information presented in the broadcast are located on CMC's website under "Investors."

About Commercial Metals Company
Commercial Metals Company and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and fabricate steel and metal products, related materials and services through a network including seven electric arc furnace ("EAF") mini mills, two EAF micro mills, a rerolling mill, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, and metal recycling facilities in the U.S. and Poland.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to general economic conditions, key macro-economic drivers that impact our business, the effects of ongoing trade actions, the effects of continued pressure on the liquidity of our customers, potential synergies and organic growth provided by acquisitions and strategic investments, demand for our products, metal margins, the effect of COVID-19 and related governmental and economic responses thereto, the ability to operate our steel mills at full capacity, future availability and cost of supplies of raw materials and energy for our operations, share repurchases, legal proceedings, the undistributed earnings of our non-U.S. subsidiaries, U.S. non-residential construction activity, international trade, capital expenditures, our liquidity and our ability to satisfy future liquidity requirements, estimated contractual obligations and our expectations or beliefs concerning future events. The statements in this report that are not historical statements, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by phrases such as we or our management "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "future," "intends," "may," "plans to," "ought," "could," "will," "should," "likely," "appears," "projects," "forecasts," "outlook" or other similar words or phrases, as well as by discussions of strategy, plans, or intentions.

Although we believe that our expectations are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results may vary materially. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, new information or circumstances or any other changes. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include those described in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2020, and Part II, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended February 28, 2021, as well as the following: changes in economic conditions which affect demand for our products or construction activity generally, and the impact of such changes on the highly cyclical steel industry; rapid and significant changes in the price of metals, potentially impairing our inventory values due to declines in commodity prices or reducing the profitability of our downstream contracts due to rising commodity pricing; impacts from COVID-19 on the economy, demand for our products, global supply chain and on our operations, including the responses of governmental authorities to contain COVID-19 and the impact from the distribution of various COVID-19 vaccines; excess capacity in our industry, particularly in China, and product availability from competing steel mills and other steel suppliers including import quantities and pricing; compliance with and changes in existing and future government laws, regulations and other legal requirements and judicial decisions that govern our business, including increased environmental regulations associated with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; involvement in various environmental matters that may result in fines, penalties or judgments; potential limitations in our or our customers' abilities to access credit and non-compliance by our customers with our contracts; activity in repurchasing shares of our common stock under our repurchase program; financial covenants and restrictions on the operation of our business contained in agreements governing our debt; our ability to successfully identify, consummate and integrate acquisitions, and the effects that acquisitions may have on our financial leverage; risks associated with acquisitions generally, such as the inability to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required approvals under applicable antitrust legislation and other regulatory and third party consents and approvals; operating and start-up risks, as well as market risks associated with the commissioning of new projects could prevent us from realizing anticipated benefits and could result in a loss of all or a substantial part of our investment; lower than expected future levels of revenues and higher than expected future costs; failure or inability to implement growth strategies in a timely manner; impact of goodwill impairment charges; impact of long-lived asset impairment charges; currency fluctuations; global factors, such as trade measures, military conflicts and political uncertainties, including the impact of the Biden administration on current trade regulations, such as Section 232 trade tariffs, tax legislation and other regulations which might adversely impact our business; availability and pricing of electricity, electrodes and natural gas for mill operations; ability to hire and retain key executives and other employees; competition from other materials or from competitors that have a lower cost structure or access to greater financial resources; information technology interruptions and breaches in security; ability to make necessary capital expenditures; availability and pricing of raw materials and other items over which we exert little influence, including scrap metal, energy and insurance; unexpected equipment failures; losses or limited potential gains due to hedging transactions; litigation claims and settlements, court decisions, regulatory rulings and legal compliance risks; risk of injury or death to employees, customers or other visitors to our operations; and civil unrest, protests and riots.

* Earnings Per Share ("EPS") is calculated independently for each component and may not sum to net earnings EPS due to rounding.

COMMERCIAL METALS COMPANY
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (UNAUDITED)

This press release contains financial measures not derived in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure are provided below.

Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, core EBITDA from continuing operations, and adjusted earnings from continuing operations are non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations per diluted share is defined as adjusted earnings from continuing operations on a diluted per share basis.

Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as alternatives for, the most directly comparable measures derived in accordance with GAAP and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. However, we believe that the non-GAAP financial measures provide relevant and useful information to management, investors, analysts, creditors and other interested parties in our industry as they allow: (i) comparison of our earnings to those of our competitors; (ii) a supplemental measure of our underlying business operational performance; and (iii) the assessment of period-to-period performance trends. Management uses non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate financial performance and set target benchmarks for annual and long-term cash incentive performance plans.

A reconciliation of earnings from continuing operations to adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations and core EBITDA from continuing operations is provided below:

A reconciliation of earnings from continuing operations to adjusted earnings from continuing operations is provided below:

SOURCE Commercial Metals Company