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LTV loss blamed on glut
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January 29, 1999: 8:56 a.m. ET
High levels of 'unfairly traded' steel imports leads to 4th-quarter results
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NEW YORK(CNNfn) - United States steel maker LTV Corp. posted a net loss for the fourth quarter of 1998, blaming it in part for what it called an unprecedented flood of foreign steel sold in violation of U.S. and international trade law.
The company also said it expects to see continued losses in the first quarter of 1999 due to the depressed conditions in the steel market.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, LTV posted a net loss of $61 million, or 62 cents per diluted share, which includes pretax charges of $55 million. That compared with net income of $32 million in the same quarter of 1997, or 31 cents per diluted share.
Revenue for the quarter declined to $989 million from revenue of $1.15 billion in the year-ago quarter.
"Unprecedented levels of unfairly traded imports continue to flood our markets," said LTV president Peter Kelly. "We renew our request that the Administration fully enforce our nation's trade laws… and support recently introduced legislation intended to restore a level playing field in steel trade matters."
Excluding fourth-quarter one-time charges of $55 million in 1998 and the effect of an accounting change in the previous year, LTV lost $14 million, or 15 cents a diluted share, in the latest quarter. That compared with income of $39 million, or 37 cents a share, in the 1997 period.
The latest quarter operating loss was slightly less than the 18 cents a share consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call. .
For the year, LTV (LTV) reported a net loss of $27 million, or 29 cents a diluted share, compared with net income of $30 million, or 27 cents a share, in 1997. Excluding one-time charges in both years, 1998 income was $20 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $131 million, or $1.24 a share, in the previous year.
Besides the high level of imports, LTV said the suspension of operations at Trico Steel hurt results. Trico, an electric furnace joint venture based in Decatur, Ala., is currently not operating because of transformer failures.
Shares of LTV closed up 5/8 Thursday to 6-15/16.
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