By comparison, AK Steel Holding Corp. had a net loss of $7.2 million or 5 cents a share in the prior July through September quarter.
Final results will be released in January.
AK Steel is expecting positive earnings despite the costs — $19 million in capital investments and $31 million lost due to lower steel production — in October to shut down and repair its Ashland Works blast furnace in Kentucky.
Steel shipments are expected to reach approximately 2 million tons over this three-month period, an increase of about 37 percent from the 1.5 million tons shipped from July to September. Sales grew due to the addition of Dearborn Works, the company's eighth steel plant, and continued strong demand from the automotive market, according to AK Steel.
News that steel shipments jumped 37 percent is lifting AK Steel’s stock price outside of regular trading hours by more than 6 percent Thursday morning. The share price closed Wednesday at $5.24.
West Chester Twp.-based AK Steel employs approximately 2,400 full-time workers in Butler County between headquarter operations and the Middletown Works steel plant. AK Steel facilities in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota employ approximately 8,000 and produce flat-rolled carbon, electrical and stainless steels used by the automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets.
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