Quarterly Financial Information (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

	March 31,		June 30,		September 30,		December 31,

	(in millions, except per share amounts)
2011:
Net sales	$	1,912.7	$	2,049.5	$	2,138.6	$	2,033.9
Cost of sales		1,406.4		1,538.7		1,644.7		1,558.9
Gross profit⁽¹⁾		506.3		510.8		493.9		475.0
Net income		93.6		100.2		86.3		69.1
Net income attributable to Reliance		92.3		98.7		84.9		67.9
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to Reliance shareholders		1.23		1.31		1.13		0.91
Basic earnings per common share attributable to Reliance shareholders		1.24		1.32		1.13		0.91
2010:
Net sales	$	1,454.1	$	1,620.6	$	1,653.8	$	1,584.3
Cost of sales		1,076.0		1,203.8		1,257.6		1,190.5
Gross profit⁽¹⁾		378.1		416.8		396.2		393.8
Net income		45.0		62.8		49.3		40.8
Net income attributable to Reliance		44.7		61.5		48.7		39.5
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to Reliance shareholders		0.60		0.83		0.65		0.53
Basic earnings per common share attributable to Reliance shareholders		0.60		0.83		0.65		0.53

⁽¹⁾: Gross profit, calculated as net sales less cost of sales, is a non-GAAP financial measure as it excludes depreciation and amortization expense associated with the corresponding sales. The majority of our orders are basic distribution with no processing services performed. For the remainder of our sales orders, we perform "first-stage" processing, which is generally not labor intensive as we are simply cutting the metal to size. Because of this, the amount of related labor and overhead, including depreciation and amortization, are not significant and are excluded from our cost of sales. Therefore, our cost of sales is primarily comprised of the cost of the material we sell. The Company uses gross profit as shown above as a measure of operating performance. Gross profit is an important operating and financial measure, as fluctuations in gross profit can have a significant impact on our earnings. Gross profit, as presented, is not necessarily comparable with similarly titled measures for other companies.