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Tony Taccone

A strategy consultant to steel companies for 20 years and a founding partner of First River Consulting, a strategy consulting boutique. Follows the steel industry globally and proudly admits to being a steel nerd.

Posts by Tony Taccone

Gerdau and Gerdau Ameristeel 2009 earnings

March 2, 2010

Gerdau and Gerdau Ameristeel announced Q4 and full year 2009 financial results last week.  Gerdau’s press release can be found here and Gerdau Ameristeel’s is located here.  Gerdau finished off the year with a very strong Q4 EBITDA per ton of $176, slightly edging out Ternium.  Check out the results for companies we follow on [...]

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Ternium 2009 results

February 24, 2010

This morning Ternium released financial results for 2009.  The press release can be found here.   As has been the case for several years, Ternium continued to be among the top performers tracked on the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. For the full year of 2009, the company achieved average EBITDA per ton of $100.  This [...]

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ArcelorMittal 2009 earnings

February 12, 2010

ArcelorMittal recently posted 2009 earnings. The press release can be found here.  For the year ArcelorMittal achieved an average EBITDA per ton of $74, which is quite remarkable given the difficult environment the industry faced in 2009.  It is also the best number we’ve seen so far among the companies tracked in the Nerds [...]

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2010 GDP growth and steel demand forecast

February 12, 2010

The IMF recently released an updated forecast of global GDP growth for 2010.  As many of you know, I’m fond of using the historical relationship between GDP and steel demand to forecast steel demand growth.  In fact, last year about this time I provided a forecast of 2009 global steel demand using the latest available [...]

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Steel Dynamics – 2009 financial results

February 4, 2010

Steel Dynamics announced Q4 and full year 2009 financial results yesterday.  The press release can be found here.  STLD’s EBITDA per ton for the full year was $54, the best we’ve seen so far among the companies we track in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.

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US demand forecast – 2010 and beyond

February 3, 2010

Last week I spoke at the AMM State of Steel Conference in Florida.  Although I was on a construction panel, I was asked to provide a forecast of 2010 steel demand for the US.   As many of you know, we believe the main drivers of steel demand in the US are the NAFTA vehicle build [...]

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2009 Q4 earnings – AK, Nucor, and US Steel

February 2, 2010

The fourth quarter earnings season swung into action last week. Sorry for the delay in getting this post out, but I was in Florida making a presentation at the AMM State of Steel Conference. More on that tomorrow.
Three companies reported reported Q 4 earnings last week.  Their respective press releases can be found at the following links: AK Q4 [...]

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Gerdau Ameristeel and Gerdau SA Q3 2009 results

November 17, 2009

After some delay, for which I apologize, the Q3 2009 results for Gerdau Ameristeel and Gerdau SA have been added to the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.  Both companies generated positive EBITDA per ton in Q3 despite low shipment volumes and difficult industry conditions.  Gerdau SA generated EBITDA per ton of $172 in Q3, the [...]

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