Feb. 19--International steelmaker Gerdau Ameristeel, which has a mill operation in Knoxville, said today it lost $1.3 billion, or $2.97 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to a profit of $141.4 million, or $1.65 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008 includes a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $1.2 billion.

The company, whose network of 19 minimills includes the operation in Lonsdale, took the impairment charge based on depressed demand for steel in the fourth quarter and a decline in the company's market capitalization, according to a press release.

For the year ended, Dec. 31, 2008, the company posted a loss of $542 million, compared to a profit of $538 million in 2007.

"We faced two very different periods during 2008. During the first nine months of the year we delivered EBITDA of $1.5 billion, while in the challenging slowdown of the world economy during the last quarter of the year, EBITDA decreased to $19.4 million," President and CEO Mario Longhi said in a statement.

"During this difficult time, we took decisive action to position ourselves for the current environment which included aggressive cost reductions. During the fourth quarter, our shipment rates exceeded our production rates which resulted in us reducing our investment in working capital and in the generation of $345 million of cash during this period, to end the year with good liquidity and a strong balance sheet."

Fourth quarter sales fell 17.6 percent to $1.4 billion from $1.7 billion for the same period in 2007. Finished steel shipments decreased to 1.3 million tons in the fourth quarter, down 829,000 tons from the year ago period.

Net sales for 2008 increased 46.6 percent to $8.5 billion from $5.8 billion in 2007 and finished steel shipments increased to 8.3 million tons from 769,000 tons the year before.

Looking ahead, the company said 2009 "remains very uncertain," the company said.

The company also said it would pay a quarterly cash dividend of 2 cents per common share, on March 20 to shareholders of record at the March 5.

In early afternoon trading, company shares were down 35 cents, or 5.96 percent, to $5.52.

-----

To see more of The Knoxville News Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.knoxnews.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Knoxville News Sentinel, Tenn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

GNA, GGB,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.