NOTE 17. BUSINESS SEGMENTS

The Company's operating segments earn revenues and incur expenses for which discrete financial information is available. Operating results for the operating segments are regularly reviewed by the Company's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segments and to assess performance. The Company's chief operating decision maker is identified as the Chief Executive Officer. Operating segments are aggregated for reporting purposes when the operating segments are identified as similar in accordance with the basic principles and aggregation criteria in the accounting standards. The Company's reporting segments are based primarily on product lines and secondarily on geographic area. The reporting segments have different lines of management responsibility as each business requires different marketing strategies and management expertise.

The Company structures its business into the following four reporting segments: Americas Recycling, Americas Mills, Americas Fabrication, and International Mill. See Note 1, Nature of Operations, of the audited consolidated financial statements included in the 2018 Form 10-K for more information about the reporting segments, including the types of products and services from which each reporting segment derives its net sales. Corporate and Other contains earnings or losses on assets and liabilities related to the Company's Benefit Restoration Plan assets and short-term investments, expenses of the Company's corporate headquarters, interest expense related to its long-term debt and intercompany eliminations.

The Company uses adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations to compare and evaluate the financial performance of its segments. Adjusted EBITDA is the sum of the Company's earnings from continuing operations before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and impairment expense. Intersegment sales are generally priced at prevailing market prices. Certain corporate administrative expenses are allocated to the segments based upon the nature of the expense. The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, of the audited consolidated financial statements included in the 2018 Form 10-K.

The following is a summary of certain financial information from continuing operations by reportable segment:



	Three Months Ended November 30, 2018
(in thousands)	Americas Recycling		Americas Mills		Americas Fabrication			International Mill		Corporate and Other			Continuing Operations
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	240,181	$	373,671	$	434,558		$	226,673	$	2,259		$	1,277,342
Intersegment sales	61,828		228,182		2,553			351		(292,914		)	—
Net sales	302,009		601,853		437,111			227,024		(290,655		)	1,277,342
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations	15,434		113,873		(36,996		)	32,779		(59,554		)	65,536
Total assets as of November 30, 2018*	264,142		1,701,353		1,145,705			501,886		95,564			3,708,650

* Total assets listed in Corporate and Other includes assets from discontinued operations.



	Three Months Ended November 30, 2017
(in thousands)	Americas Recycling		Americas Mills		Americas Fabrication		International Mill		Corporate and Other			Continuing Operations
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	274,337	$	246,733	$	330,552	$	220,212	$	4,699		$	1,076,533
Intersegment sales	45,004		166,785		2,227		266		(214,282		)	—
Net sales	319,341		413,518		332,779		220,478		(209,583		)	1,076,533
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations	15,005		55,166		2,032		30,944		(23,880		)	79,267
Total assets as of August 31, 2018*	291,838		1,115,339		739,151		485,548		696,428			3,328,304

* Total assets listed in Corporate and Other includes assets from discontinued operations.

The following table presents a reconciliation of earnings from continuing operations to adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations:



	Three Months Ended November 30,
(in thousands)	2018			2017
Earnings from continuing operations	$	19,420		$	31,871
Interest expense	16,663			6,611
Income taxes	5,609			8,425
Depreciation and amortization	35,176			31,899
Amortization of acquired unfavorable contract backlog	(11,332		)	—
Impairment of assets	—			461
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations	$	65,536		$	79,267