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Administration April 8, 2003
Pension, Health Costs Help Produce US Steel Loss
August 4, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Hit hard by high
pension and health-care costs, United States Steel Corp. is
reporting a second-quarter loss.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
Reuters reported that US Steel announced a $49-million loss or $0.51 per share, compared to a $27-million profit or $0.28 per share at the same time last year. Revenue rose to $2.36 billion from $1.81 billion last year.
Pittsburgh-based US Steel said the quarterly results included a loss of $52 million, or $0.50 cents per share, from health care obligations related to the sale of its coal mining business in June.
In May, US Steel completed its $850 million cash acquisition of bankrupt steelmaker National Steel, a deal that made the company the largest US integrated steelmaker (See National Steel Severs Retiree Health Premium Payments ). The company said it will take a $500 million charge in the second half of 2003 for workforce reductions announced after the National deal.
Defunct pension plans from a flock of ailing or bankrupt steel companies have proven a major drain on the resources of the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) (See PBGC: Deficit Continues to Grow ).