| 1. | Overall utilization rates of about 50-60% across our operations. | ||
| 2. | A reduction in operating profit of nearly $19 million due to idle facility costs, further severance costs, and new facility start-up costs. | ||
| 3. | A LIFO catch up of $22.5 million due to rising raw materials costs. | ||
| 4. | And, while our U.S. defined pension plan is fully funded, we recorded $20 million of pension expense, primarily due to the significant negative investment returns in 2008. |
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| | Aerospace and defense accounted for 32% of nine months 2009 sales; | ||
| | Electrical energy was 20% of year-to-date sales; | ||
| | The chemical process industry and oil and gas markets accounted for 19% of sales; and | ||
| | The medical market accounted for over 4% of total sales. |
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| | Compared to the second quarter 2009, shipments of our titanium-based alloys and nickel-based superalloys declined 8% and 20%, respectively, due to the ongoing inventory correction in the aerospace supply chain for us that is mostly the jet engine segment of the market. We expect the jet engine forecast to be finalized and balanced with the current airframe forecast before years end. | ||
| | Shipments of our nuclear-grade zirconium alloys to the nuclear energy market remained solid. However, total shipments of our exotic alloys declined 23% in the third quarter 2009, compared to the second quarter 2009, due to the timing of new projects for chemical processing plant construction, which use our industrial-grade zirconium alloy. |
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| | Shipments of our Precision Rolled Strip® products improved by over 20% due to better demand from the global automotive market, the telecommunications and electronics market in Asia, and the U.S. housing market. | ||
| | Shipments of our grain-oriented electrical steel products to the global electrical energy market remained relatively good, due primarily to our long term agreements with key customers. | ||
| | On the other hand, shipments of our flat-rolled titanium products fell by over 60% primarily from project schedule push outs, not cancelations, in global industrial markets. We expect industrial titanium shipments to begin to improve in the fourth quarter and continue to improve in 2010. |
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| | The next generation of airplanes will be more titanium intensive and jet engines are being designed to be hotter and lighter in order to meet more stringent green and fuel economy standards. | ||
| | Oil and gas reserves are being found offshore in very deep water, which requires our high-end specialty metals. BPs prospect in the Gulf of Mexico is a good example. It is the deepest well ever drilled by the oil and gas industry. BP reports that this well was drilled to a total depth of over 35,000 feet, that is over 6-and-a-half miles! We like deep water development. We like horizontal drilling. | ||
| | Very large LNG supplies are being developed, such as Chevron and its partners enormous Gorgon project in Australia. Again, such projects require significant amounts of our specialty metals. |
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| | The world is focused on carbon emissions reduction, which provides significant opportunities for ATI in: |
| o | Nuclear electrical power generation, a safe sustainable energy. The World Nuclear Association reports that 35 reactors are being constructed and over 100 reactors are planned. ATI Nuclear Energy offers over 300 specialty metals and other specialty products to this growing global market. | ||
| o | The upgrade of the efficiency of the U.S. power distribution grid and the expansion of power distribution in emerging economies requires our grain-oriented electrical steel. |
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| | During the third quarter we completed several new long-term agreements (LTAs) with key global customers, and we are working on several more. These agreements, which range from 2 to 10 years in length, are with well-known global customers in the Aerospace and Defense, Oil and Gas, Electrical Energy, and Medical markets. LTAs offer an excellent foundation for sustained growth, while developing deeper relationships with our customers. |
| o | One LTA worth mentioning is our new 10-year $750 million to $1 billion sourcing agreement with Rolls-Royce that we announced in September. This agreement covers disc-quality superalloys used in the compressor and hot sections of the jet engine. These are some of the most difficult jet engine specialty metals to make. | ||
| o | Customers like our class-leading technology, they like our responsiveness and reliability, and they like that ATI is investing for the future to support their current and future needs. | ||
| o | During a recent ATI market update, our managing director in the U.K. shared an example of feedback that he receives from customers. It went something like this, The market is very aware of ATIs continued financial capability to invest in world-class facilities, and our state-of-the-art technology, whilst others stall. |
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| | We expect to close on the asset acquisition of the Crucible powder business by the end of October. This is an excellent entry point for ATI into advanced powder metals and expands our portfolio of offerings. |
| o | Powder metals are used in the production of complex alloy chemistries, typically when conventional processes cant be used. | ||
| o | Prices for these products are at the high end of the price range of our major products. For example, the typical price for nickel-based superalloy powder metal products for jet engines is in the $50 to $100 per pound range. | ||
| o | While we have not yet closed on the asset purchase, technical and marketing people on both sides are excited about the possibilities powder metals bring to ATI. | ||
| o | Powder metals are a growth opportunity for ATI. |
| § | More powders are being used in the latest generation of jet engines to help meet stringent green and fuel efficiency standards. | ||
| § | Powders are used to produce parts as near-net shape to reduce cost and manufacturing time. | ||
| § | We expect to invent new alloys and develop new powder metal applications through ATIs unsurpassed manufacturing capabilities and specialty metals technology. |
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| | Advanced powder metals expand our specialty metals product portfolio. In addition, ATI continues to expand our industry-leading specialty metals menu with new proprietary alloys, such as: |
| o | (1) An innovative new titanium alloy, (2) a ground-breaking nickel-based superalloy, (3) and one of the first new armor products released to the market in over 40 years. These products are aimed at improving the manufacturability of these metals to help customers get to near-net shape quicker and at reduced costs. | ||
| o | Our new duplex stainless alloys use lower amounts of nickel and/or moly. These products are designed to be more cost effective and typically provide higher strength and better corrosion resistance than conventional stainless alloys. | ||
| o | These new products are all aimed at expanding product offerings and value to our core markets, with a segmented global reach patented, hard to produce, and with difficult barriers to entry in regard to new technology development. |
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| | Finally, a quick update on our major strategic capital projects: |
| o | Our Bakers, North Carolina titanium and superalloy forging facility began production in the third quarter 2009. Customer qualifications are proceeding. We are pleased with the start-up and expanded product capabilities of our new forge press and radial forge. | ||
| o | We now expect our Rowley, Utah premium-grade titanium sponge facility to start up by the end of 2009. | ||
| o | The melt shop consolidation at our Brackenridge, Pennsylvania specialty melt shop is progressing. We reduce a footprint, and we expect considerable cost savings and production efficiencies from this project when it is completed in 2010. | ||
| o | Engineering, permitting, and site preparation continues on our Brackenridge, Pennsylvania advanced hot rolling and processing facility. Demolition of existing buildings on the site began in August. | ||
| o | The expansion of our Precision Rolled Strip® facility in China is essentially complete. | ||
| o | We now expect 2009 capital investments and asset acquisitions to be $475 million. This includes the Crucible asset acquisition. |
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