United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, reports full-year 2017 net earnings of $387 million, compared to full-year 2016 net loss of $440 million, as investments in upgrading equipment in its flat-rolled segment helped to improve performance.
According to President and Chief Executive Officer David B. Burritt, "We finished the year with three solid quarters, and results for all three of our reportable segments were in line with our expectations. We made good progress on our asset revitalization program in 2017, achieved our quality and reliability improvements goals, and are confident that we will achieve our 2018 improvement objectives."
Mr. Burritt says that the steelmaker continues to strengthen its balance sheet, reducing debt by over $300 million in 2017 to approximately $1.150 billion. “Our total liquidity increased by over $400 million in 2017, and ended the year at approximately $3.350 billion.”
The amount of liquidity “supports the continued implementation of our asset revitalization program in our Flat-Rolled segment, as well as increasing investment in our Tubular and European businesses.”
"Our focus in 2018 remains on improving the fundamental drivers of our business: safety, quality, delivery, and cost,” says Mr. Burritt. “We will continue to provide our employees with the support and resources they need. When our employees succeed, our customers succeed. When our customers succeed, U.S. Steel succeeds."
If market conditions remain at current levels, U.S. Steel expects 2018 net earnings of approximately $685 million. Market conditions include spot prices, raw material costs, customer demand, import volumes, supply chain inventories, rig counts, and energy costs.
