Metal mgmt. boasts healthy profits.

Metal Management Inc., Chicago, has posted net sales of $1.7 billion and net income of $92.3 million for its 2005 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2005. The net income calculates to $3.74 per diluted common share.

For the fourth quarter ending March 31, consolidated net sales increased by more than 25 percent from the same quarter one year earlier, although net income was down about 33 percent per share on higher costs of sales.

Metal Management also has-reported that debt under the company's credit facility was eliminated in the 2005 fiscal year. and that its cash position stood at $52.8 million.

Additionally, the company has reported that more than 5.1 million tons of metal were processed and sold or brokered in the 2005 fiscal year, with ferrous shipments increasing by 6 percent to approximately 4.7 million tons. Nonferrous shipments increased by nearly 18 percent to roughly 500 million pounds.

In fiscal year 2005, the company entered a joint venture to create Metal Management Nashville LLC and another joint venture to create Port Albany Ventures LLC, designed to increase Metal Management's opportunities in the stevedoring and material handling businesses in the northeastern United States.

"We are particularly proud of Metal Management's strong performance in the fourth quarter, in which we generated significant earnings while ferrous scrap metal prices declined," Daniel W. Dienst, chairman, CEO and president of the firm, says.

Metal Management Inc. is one of the largest full service metal recyclers in the United States, with approximately 40 recycling facilities in 15 states.