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U.S. Steel ramps up on spending on mills

U.S. Steel will ramp up spending this year on improving the efficiency of its plants, president and CEO Mario Longhi told analysts this morning during a call discussing the Pittsburgh steel producer’s $440 million loss last year.

Mr. Longhi also told them he is encouraged by President Donald Trump’s early efforts to bolster American manufacturing and protect U.S. companies from unfairly traded imports.

U.S. Steel will spend about $200 million more this year on a series of small projects designed to improve the quality and quantity of steel its mills can produce, Mr. Longhi said. About 40 percent of the projects will cost less than $10 million, the company said. The work will be completed over at least three years.

The steelmaker did not disclose how much it spent on similar work last year.

One particular area of focus is rolling mills that process sheet steel into higher value products. The work will address problems at the mills that limited production during the third quarter, the company told analysts.

Mr. Longhi, who last week was named by the White House as one of the CEOs who will advise Mr. Trump on creating manufacturing jobs, said he is pleased with the actions of the new administration.

“The president is remaining true to his promises during the campaign,” he said. “This administration, they are saying all the right things.”

When asked whether Mr. Trump will propose an import tax on slabs that U.S. steel producers routinely buy from foreign competitors, Mr. Longhi said, “It’s hard to tell right now.”

He declined comment on reports that U.S. Steel is seeking a buyer for its operations in the Slovak Republic. Last year, those operations reported earnings before interest and taxes of $185 million vs. the $3 million loss generated by the company’s North American sheet mills.

The steelmaker’s fourth quarter results reported late Tuesday topped analyst estimates.

U.S. Steel posted a fourth quarter loss of $105 million, or 61 cents per share. Stripping out one-time charges, adjusted earnings totaled 27 cents per share vs. the 1 cent per share analysts were expecting.

The $440 million, or $2.81 per share, loss for all of 2016 marks the seventh unprofitable year for U.S. Steel since 2009, the year the Great Recession hit bottom. The company reported net income of $120 million in 2014.

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/pittsburgh-company-news/2017/02/01/With-eye-on-efficiency-U-S-Steel-boosting-mill-spending-by-200M/stories/201702010204?pgpageversion=pgevoke