Dofasco has high hopes for year’s end
ments. We don’t expect further significant deterioration from where we’re at.”
Dofasco chief executive Don Pether also has higher hopes for the fourth quarter.
“ We are seeing positive indications looking forward on market pricing and have been making a concerted effort to mitigate pressures on the cost side. Under these conditions, we expect improvement in the fourth quarter.”
Another issue that will hurt Dofasco in the third quarter — results are due out Oct. 31 — is that accounting adjustments are needed after the July close of the Quebec Cartier Mining Co. acquisition, Novak said. But it is low steel prices and higher costs that are reverberating throughout the industry.
“Obviously these pressures that Dofasco is feeling are being felt by the rest of the industry,” Novak said.
Earlier this week, Ohio- based steel maker AK Steel Holding Corp. announced it expects an operating loss in the third quarter, due in part to rising costs of natural gas caused by Hurricane Katrina. Hamilton-based Stelco Inc. has cautioned about weakening earnings for months after a galloping start to the year. The company blames softening demand and higher raw material and energy costs.
Stelco has said it expects the soft market to persist and thirdquarter results to be “significantly lower” compared with the second quarter.
Dofasco, too, started the year on a high, after reporting record earnings for 2004.
Dofasco’s first-quarter earnings per share were $ 1.01, followed by 77 cents per share in the second quarter.