The US company Schnitzer Steel has ended the first half of its 2018/19 business year with substantially lower earnings. The operating result for the period between September and February stood at just under $60m, some 30 per cent less than was reported at the same time last year. Net profits had fallen by half to $30m. By contrast, revenues were only marginally lower than in the first half of the prior year at $1.04bn.
The drop in earnings was driven by the plunge in profits within the much larger of the company's two divisions, the "auto and metals recycling" (AMR) business. Division operating earnings fell by 44 per cent to $45m. Business area revenues, derived from Schnitzer's scrap metal operations, edged 3 per cent lower to $822m. While ferrous scrap revenues slipped by only 1 per cent to $556m. Sales of non-ferrous metals generated 8 per cent less revenue at $204m.
