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The weak pricing environment was driven by high levels
of imports as a result of the strong U.S. dollar and a weak
global economy, including economic slowdown in China
in the second half of 2015. Our same-store average selling
price per ton sold declined sequentially each month from
September 2014 through December 2015. However, our
same-store average selling price per ton sold declined only
10.3% in 2015 compared to 2014, with mill pricing for
most carbon and stainless steel products falling 30% to
40%. We believe our disciplined and localized operating
strategy of maintaining the right level of inventory to
support current sales activity in each of our operations
encouraged our local management teams to turn away
low margin business and focus on higher margin orders.
We continue to invest in the strongest areas of our company,
including significant investments in our businesses servicing
the automotive and aerospace markets. We service the
automotive industry primarily through our toll processing
operations, which have been highly profitable for Reliance
since we eliminate metal price risk by not taking ownership
of the metal and provide high-quality value-added
processing capabilities. As a result, we have made and
continue to make investments in internally engineered,
state-of-the-art processing equipment to increase our
overall toll processing capacity, including incremental
processing resulting from the increased usage of aluminum
in the automotive industry. In aerospace, we have invested
in expansion both through our August 2014 acquisition
of Aluminium Services UK Limited and the opening of
additional new facilities around the globe in anticipation of
continued strong build rates and high backlog.
Effective January 1, 2016, we completed the acquisition
of Tubular Steel, Inc., a distributor and processor of
carbon, alloy and stainless steel pipe, tubing and bar
products, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Tubular
Steel is a strong company with a well-respected position
in the market, and brings additional high-margin,
specialty products to our mix. This acquisition not only
fits our growth strategy of investing in higher-returning
businesses but also expands our product breadth and
end-market diversification. Going forward, accretive
acquisitions will remain an integral element of our growth
strategy. Our pipeline of potential acquisition targets is
robust and we continue to evaluate various opportunities
to acquire profitable, well-managed metals service centers
and processors with product and end-market exposures
that help support our growth strategies.
We were especially pleased with our ability to generate
record cash flow and improve our balance sheet in 2015,
while at the same time growing our business and enhancing
stockholder value. The Reliance model enables us to
generate cash during cyclical downturns through effective
working capital management along with strong operational
profits. Our cash flow generation in 2015 allowed us
to invest in both organic growth, with $172 million in
capital expenditures, as well as M&A opportunities
including the acquisition of Tubular Steel in early 2016.
We also deleveraged our balance sheet throughout the
year, reducing total debt by nearly $377 million. During
2015, we repurchased approximately 6.2 million shares of
our common stock for approximately $356 million. Given
our strong liquidity, we believe share repurchases are an