Business
Friedman Industries, Incorporated Announces Second Quarter Results and Provides Update on Strategic Growth Initiatives
LONGVIEW, Texas, Nov. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Friedman Industries, Incorporated (NYSE American: FRD) announced today its results of operations for the
About this update from Friedman Industries Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"LONGVIEW, Texas, Nov. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Friedman Industries, Incorporated (NYSE American: FRD) announced today its results of operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. September 30, 2023 Quarter Highlights: Net earnings of approximately $3.5 millionSales of approximately $130.7 million10% increase in sales volume over prior year quarter volumeWorking capital balance at quarter-end of approximately $129.9 million “Our second quarter results are a testament to our team’s ability to evaluate challenging market conditions and make the appropriate decisions to deliver increased sales volume and profitable results in periods of significant headwinds to profitability,” said Michael J. Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We experienced a significant decline in steel prices entering the second quarter with that trend continuing to the end of the quarter. These conditions resulted in compressed physical margins for the quarter, but the effective hedging of our price risk exposure allowed us to offset the physical margin compression and deliver improved results compared to the prior year quarter which had very similar steel pricing dynamics. Further, the 10% increase in sales volume from the prior year’s quarter demonstrates the impact of the new Sinton facility and other key investments made across our complementary facilities. As fiscal 2024 continues, we believe the Company is positioned well to deliver record financial results for a third year in a row,” Taylor concluded. For the quarter ended September 30, 2023 (the “2023 quarter”), the Company recorded net earnings of approximately $3.5 million ($0.48 diluted earnings per share) on sales of approximately $130.7 million compared to net earnings of approximately $2.5 million ($0.34 diluted earnings per share) on sales of approximately $149.7 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 (the “2022 quarter”). Our operating results are significantly impacted by the market price of hot-rolled coil (“HRC”). The Company experienced similar HRC pricing dynamics entering and during both the 2023 and 2022 quarters. HRC price declined approximately 25% during the 2023 quarter with this decline being part of a downward price cycle which commenced in April 2023. From April 2023 and to the end of the 2023 quarter, HRC price declined approximately 45%. HRC price...