US zinc producer, Horsehead Holding, reported sharply lower profits for the fourth quarter and all of last year, as profits from hedges failed to offset tumbling zinc prices and lower shipments.
Fourth quarter net income fell 63 percent to $6.3 million, or 18 cents per diluted share, vs. earnings of $17.2 million, or 49 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Sales fell 23 percent to $91.8 million. For the full year, the Monaca company posted profits of $39.4 million, or $1.12 per diluted share, on sales of $445.9 vs. 2007 earnings of $90.7 million, or $2.85 per diluted share, on sales of $545.6 million.
"The fourth quarter was unprecedented in the speed in which market conditions deteriorated," President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Hensler said.
The zinc producer said it has temporarily idled a second smelting furnace at Monaca because of slackening demand. It also is delaying construction of a new plant in South Carolina "to better match expected future demand for capacity and to take advantage of a lower cost construction environment," Mr. Hensler said.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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