Algoma Steel Provides Fiscal Third Quarter 2024 Guidance

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario, Jan. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Algoma Steel Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTL; TSX: ASTL) (“Algoma” or “the Company”), a leading Canadian producer of hot and cold rolled steel sheet and plate products, today provided guidance for its fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2023. Unless otherwise specified, all amounts are in Canadian dollars.

Fiscal 2024 third quarter total steel shipments are expected to be around 515,000 tons and Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $(10) million to breakeven.

Michael Garcia, Algoma’s Chief Executive Officer commented, “Our operations ran in line with our expectations during the fiscal third quarter, with a heavy focus on seasonal maintenance that included completion of our annual basic oxygen furnace relining and other servicing across the steelworks. Due to the lagging nature of our order book, UAW strike-driven soft demand and pricing in the previous quarter and through October impacted our fiscal third quarter results. Progress on our Electric Arc Furnace (“EAF”) project continued pace and on budget, and at quarter-end we had committed and priced approximately 86% of the project’s total expected cost based on the unchanged midpoint of our project budget.”

“In October, steel pricing began to recover in anticipation of a strike settlement, and since the strike’s end pricing has continued to improve, currently sitting near 12-month highs. We expect this pricing strength, coupled with continued solid market fundamentals, to drive significantly improved realized pricing and overall fiscal results starting with our fiscal fourth quarter,” Mr. Garcia concluded.

About Algoma Steel Inc.

Based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, Algoma is a fully integrated producer of hot and cold rolled steel products including sheet and plate. Driven by a purpose to build better lives and a greener future, Algoma is positioned to deliver responsive, customer-driven product solutions to applications in the automotive, construction, energy, defense, and manufacturing sectors. Algoma is a key supplier of steel products to customers in North America and is the only producer of discrete plate products in Canada. Its state-of-the-art Direct Strip Production Complex (“DSPC”) is one of the lowest-cost producers of hot rolled sheet steel (HRC) in North America.