Welcome Note: Record Performance

DeAnne Toto

Both The Timken Co. and Alcoa, two companies featured in Recycling Today's 2012 Scrap Metals Supplement, enjoyed strong performance in the third quarter of 2011 relative to the prior year.

In October of 2011, Canton, Ohio-based The Timken Co. reported sales of $1.3 billion, a 25 percent increase compared with the third quarter of 2010. For the first nine months of 2011, the company's sales grew 31 percent, reaching $3.9 million. The Timken Co., which operates two-electric arc furn/aces and manufactures alloy steels, engineered bearings and related components and assemblies, earned more in the first nine months of 2011 than it did in all of 2010.

The company says it expects a sales increase of approximately 25 to 30 percent for all of 2011.

Timken President and CEO James Griffith said. "We are leveraging that growth to higher profitability."

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, a leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum and the world's largest miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina, also reported increased third quarter revenue and earnings compared with the third quarter of 2010 but lower results sequentially, which it attributed to lower metal prices, seasonal factors and weakness in Europe.

Among the highlights the company reported for the third quarter are:

• Income of $172 million, or 15 cents per share, up 182 percent compared with third quarter of 2010, though down 47 percent from second quarter of 2011; and

• Revenue of $6.4 billion, up 21 percent over the third quarter of 2010, though down 3 percent from the second quarter of 2011.

"Aluminum prices fell in the third quarter, but most markets continued to grow," said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. "With the exception of Europe, we saw growth in our end markets, though at a slower rate than in the first half, as confidence in the global recovery faded."

He continued, "We continue to forecast a growth rate of 12 percent for 2011, with a slower pace in the second half of the year, and reaffirm our long-term forecast for a doubling of aluminum demand by 2020. Alcoa is a confident company in a nervous world. We are well-prepared for whatever lies ahead, with more cash on hand, lower debt and continued focus on profitable growth."

While the lackluster economies of the U.S. and Western Europe can color our perceptions, it's plain to see that while they have their effects on metals producers and recyclers, companies are still posting impressive figures.

DeAnne Toto