Service Centers

Reliance updates name, reports 'strong' Q4 and annual results

Written by David Schollaert

February 15, 2024

Reliance Inc.

Fourth quarter ended Dec.3120232022% Change
Net sales$3,337$3,623-7.9%
Net income (loss)$273$295-7.6%
Per diluted share$4.70$5.88-20.1%
Full year ended Dec.31
Net sales$14,806$17,025-13.0%
Net income (loss)$1,336$1,840-27.4%
Per diluted share$22.64$29.92-24.3%
(in millions of dollars except per share)

Reliance Inc. – formerly Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. – introduced its “new company identity” that emphasized its “evolution to more than steel,” the company said in its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based service center’s report showed sequential and on-year declines in sales and income (see chart above). However, overall demand was healthy, driven mainly by non-residential construction, aerospace, and general manufacturing end markets, Reliance said.

“We delivered strong operational and financial performance in 2023 in a challenging environment,” Reliance president and CEO Karla Lewis said, noting that while overall tons sold were up, the average selling price per ton was down across all its major products in 2023.

Non-residential construction is the largest end market for the service center group. It demonstrated strong year-over-year improvement (y/y) in both the fourth quarter and full-year 2023. The company remains cautiously optimistic non-residential construction activity in the sectors in which it participates will remain at healthy levels in the first quarter of 2024.

Reliance’s total tons sold in Q4’23 increased 4.9% y/y and was up 3.7% for full-year 2023.

However, shipments of carbon steel products declined 4.4% sequentially to 1,100,500 shot tons, but this was a 6.1% rise from the year-ago quarter. The average Q4 selling prices of carbon steel products were down 5.5% from the prior quarter and 12.4% from Q4’22, Reliance said.

Outlook

Reliance expects tons sold in Q1’24 to be up 9-11% sequentially, “consistent with seasonal trends.” On pricing, it believes the selling price per ton to increase 1-3% vs. Q4’23 driven by “stabilizing pricing trends for many of its products”.

Reliance anticipates steady demand “despite continuing macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical matters”.

Name change

The company has changed its corporate name from Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. to Reliance Inc. to signal its “evolution to more than metal as a diversified metals solutions provider,” from “just a distributor of steel and aluminum,” the company said.

Reliance is the largest metals service center in North America with more than 315 locations across 40 US states and 12 countries.

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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