Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. Reports Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results

• Net sales of $3.88 billion with tons sold up 1.9% from Q2 2022 • Strong gross profit margin of 31.5% • EPS of $6.49 • Cash flow from operations of $295.1 million • Repurchased $73.9 million of common stock • Completed acquisition of Southern Steel Supply, LLC on May 1, 2023

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

Management Commentary “Reliance’s business model is designed to provide resilient performance throughout economic cycles, including both pricing and end demand fluctuations present in the metals industry. The unique facets of our business model, highlighted by diversification, small order sizes, quick delivery and increased value-added processing, support our ability to deliver consistent profitable results,” said Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Reliance. “Our strong second quarter results were consistent with the first quarter, with diluted earnings per share of $6.49 compared to $6.43 per share in the first quarter of 2023. While our tons sold declined 2.4% from the first quarter of 2023, they improved 1.9% year-over-year, in part driven by our investments in organic growth. Overall, the end markets we serve remained healthy with solid underlying demand and customer activity levels. Pricing was relatively flat compared to the first quarter and remained elevated by historical standards.”

Mrs. Lewis continued, “Our strong profitability, along with effective working capital management, produced significant operating cash flow of $295.1 million in the second quarter. Investing for growth remains our top priority with $154.3 million invested during the second quarter in both capital expenditures and our May 1, 2023 acquisition of Southern Steel Supply, LLC. Our strong cash flow continues to fund our growth initiatives and fueled $132.5 million of stockholder returns in the second quarter through dividends and share repurchases. We remain well positioned to continue investing in and profitably growing our Company and expect to capitalize on opportunities under the Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, while continuing to provide strong returns to our stockholders. Most importantly, I would like to thank the team at Reliance for their continued focus on operating safely while serving our customers and delivering strong financial performance.”

End Market Commentary Reliance provides a diverse range of products and processing services to a wide range of end markets, generally in small quantities on an as-needed basis. The Company’s tons sold in the second quarter of 2023 declined 2.4% compared to the prior quarter, reflecting one less shipping day and the impact from the demand pull-forward for carbon steel flat-rolled products experienced in the first quarter of 2023. The Company’s tons sold increased 1.9% year-over-year due to strength in the non-residential construction and aerospace end markets Reliance serves along with contributions from its organic growth investments.

Demand in non-residential construction (including infrastructure), Reliance’s largest end market, improved compared to the second quarter of 2022. Reliance continues to service new projects in diverse sectors, including public infrastructure, manufacturing and renewable energy. The Company remains cautiously optimistic non-residential construction activity in the sectors in which the Company participates will remain healthy in the third quarter of 2023 based on current customer sentiment and backlogs.

Demand across the broader manufacturing sectors Reliance serves, including industrial machinery, consumer products and heavy equipment, declined modestly from the first quarter of 2023 partially due to the carbon steel flat-rolled demand pull forward effect; however, demand improved from the second quarter of 2022. Reliance anticipates that demand for its products across the broader manufacturing sector will experience a customary seasonal slowdown in the third quarter of 2023.

Demand for commercial aerospace remained strong in the second quarter of 2023. Reliance is optimistic commercial aerospace demand will continue to improve in the third quarter of 2023 as build rates increase from 2022 levels. Demand in the military, defense and space portions of Reliance’s aerospace business also remained strong with healthy backlogs, which is expected to continue in the third quarter of 2023.

Demand for the toll processing services Reliance provides to the automotive market increased from both the first quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2022. Reliance’s niche position in the automotive market, coupled with recent increases in automotive production and the continued shift to higher aluminum content, provide the Company with continued optimism that demand for its toll processing services will remain solid in the third quarter of 2023.

Demand in the semiconductor market declined from both the first quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2022 due to softening in certain areas of the market. Nevertheless, Reliance’s long-term outlook for the semiconductor market remains positive, reinforced by its investments in additional capacity to service the significant semiconductor fabrication expansion efforts underway in the United States.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow At June 30, 2023, Reliance had cash and cash equivalents of $816.3 million and total debt outstanding of $1.15 billion with no outstanding borrowings under its $1.5 billion revolving credit facility. Reliance generated cash flow from operations of $295.1 million during the second quarter of 2023 driven by its solid profitability and effective management of working capital.

Stockholder Return Activity On July 25, 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.00 per share of common stock, payable on September 1, 2023 to stockholders of record as of August 18, 2023. Reliance has paid regular quarterly cash dividends for 64 consecutive years without reduction or suspension and has increased the dividend 30 times since its 1994 IPO to a current annual rate of $4.00 per share.

In the second quarter of 2023, the Company repurchased approximately 308 thousand shares of its common stock at an average cost of $239.55 per share, for a total of $73.9 million. As of June 30, 2023, $567.9 million remained available under its $1 billion share repurchase plan authorized on July 26, 2022. Since 2018, Reliance has repurchased approximately 16.4 million shares of its common stock at an average cost of $117.98 per share for a total of $1.94 billion.

Acquisition of Southern Steel Supply, LLC As previously announced, on May 1, 2023, Reliance completed the acquisition of all the outstanding equity interests and the related real estate assets of Southern Steel Supply, LLC (“Southern Steel”), a metals service center that offers merchant and structural steel, pipe and tube, steel plate, ornamental products and laser cut and fabricated parts. The addition of Southern Steel expands Reliance’s geographic footprint and value-added processing capabilities. Southern Steel operates as a subsidiary of Siskin Steel & Supply Company, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, annual net sales for Southern Steel were $62.9 million.

Business Outlook Reliance anticipates underlying demand will remain healthy across the majority of the end markets it serves in the third quarter of 2023. However, the Company expects shipment levels to be impacted by normal seasonal patterns, which include a decline in shipping volumes due to planned customer shutdowns and vacation schedules, along with one less shipping day. As a result, the Company expects tons sold will be down 2% to 4% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2023 but up 1.5% to 3.5% from the third quarter of 2022. In addition, Reliance expects its average selling price per ton sold for the third quarter of 2023 to be down 2% to 4% compared to the second quarter of 2023 primarily driven by declining prices for flat-rolled products in carbon steel, stainless steel and common alloy aluminum along with carbon steel tubing products, which collectively represent about 35% of its sales. Further, the Company anticipates temporary downward pressure on its gross profit margin in the third quarter as a result of selling into a declining metal price environment for certain of its products. Based on these expectations, the Company anticipates non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $4.90 to $5.10 for the third quarter of 2023.

Conference Call Details A conference call and simultaneous webcast to discuss Reliance’s second quarter 2023 financial results and business outlook will be held on Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. To listen to the live call by telephone, please dial (877) 407-0792 (U.S. and Canada) or (201) 689-8263 (International) approximately 10 minutes prior to the start time and use conference ID: 13739614. The call will also be broadcast live over the Internet hosted on the Investors section of the Company's website at investor.rsac.com.

For those unable to participate during the live broadcast, a replay of the call will also be available beginning that same day at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 10, 2023, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or (412) 317-6671 (International) and entering the conference ID: 13739614. The webcast will remain posted on the Investors section of Reliance’s website at www.rsac.com for 90 days.

About Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. Founded in 1939, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) is a leading global diversified metal solutions provider and the largest metals service center company in North America. Through a network of approximately 315 locations in 40 states and 12 countries outside of the United States, Reliance provides value-added metals processing services and distributes a full-line of over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers in a broad range of industries. Reliance focuses on small orders with quick turnaround and value-added processing services. In 2022, Reliance’s average order size was $3,670, approximately 50% of orders included value-added processing and approximately 40% of orders were delivered within 24 hours. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s press releases and additional information are available on the Company’s website at rsac.com.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, discussions of Reliance’s industry and end markets, business strategies, acquisitions, and expectations concerning the Company’s future growth and profitability and its ability to generate industry leading returns for its stockholders, as well as future demand and metals pricing and the Company’s results of operations, margins, profitability, taxes, liquidity, macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and the possibility of an economic recession or slowdown, litigation matters and capital resources. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “range,” “intend” and “continue,” the negative of these terms, and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's estimates, projections and assumptions as of today’s date that may not prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, but not limited to, actions taken by Reliance, as well as developments beyond its control, including, but not limited to, the possibility that the expected benefits of acquisitions may not materialize as expected, the impacts of labor constraints and supply chain disruptions, COVID-19 or any other similar pandemic or public health situation, and changes in worldwide and U.S. political and economic conditions such as inflation and the possibility of an economic recession that could materially impact the Company, its customers and suppliers and demand for the Company’s products and services. Deteriorations in economic conditions as a result of inflation, economic recession, slowing growth, COVID-19 or outbreaks of other infectious disease, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine or otherwise, could lead to a decline in demand for the Company’s products and services and negatively impact its business, and may also impact financial markets and corporate credit markets which could adversely impact the Company’s access to financing, or the terms of any financing. The Company cannot at this time predict all of the impacts of inflation, product price fluctuations, economic recession, COVID-19 or any other similar pandemic or public health situation or the Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic effects, but these factors, individually or in any combination, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date that they are made, and Reliance disclaims any and all obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason, except as may be required by law. Important risks and uncertainties about Reliance’s business can be found in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in other documents Reliance files or furnishes with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: (213) 576-2428 [email protected]

or Addo Investor Relations (310) 829-5400

(Tables to follow)