AKS » Topics » Capital Investments

These excerpts taken from the AKS 10-K filed Feb 26, 2008.

Capital Investments

The Company anticipates 2008 capital investments of approximately $200.0, which the Company expects to be funded from cash generated from operations. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has provided the Company the ability to receive tax incentives in the form of payroll tax and other withholdings over a 10-year period to help defray the costs for the installation of a vacuum degasser and caster modifications at its Ashland Works under the Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act Tax Credit Program. Through December 31, 2007, the Company has accumulated $9.6 in such withholdings, which amount is included as a reduction of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated financial statements. To meet the growing demand for energy efficient products used in power generation and distribution transformers, the Company is expanding its production capacity for high-quality, grain-oriented electrical steels. The Company announced in 2007 capital investments totaling $180.0 to achieve this increased electrical steel capacity in 2007 and 2008. At December 31, 2007, commitments for all future capital investments totaled approximately $3.9.

Capital Investments

FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">The Company anticipates 2008 capital investments of approximately $200.0, which the Company expects to be funded from cash generated from operations. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has provided the Company the ability
to receive tax incentives in the form of payroll tax and other withholdings over a 10-year period to help defray the costs for the installation of a vacuum degasser and caster modifications at its Ashland Works under the Kentucky Industrial
Revitalization Act Tax Credit Program. Through December 31, 2007, the Company has accumulated $9.6 in such withholdings, which amount is included as a reduction of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated financial statements. To meet
the growing demand for energy efficient products used in power generation and distribution transformers, the Company is expanding its production capacity for high-quality, grain-oriented electrical steels. The Company announced in 2007 capital
investments totaling $180.0 to achieve this increased electrical steel capacity in 2007 and 2008. At December 31, 2007, commitments for all future capital investments totaled approximately $3.9.

STYLE="margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2%">Employee Benefit Obligations

Under
its method of accounting for pension and other postretirement benefit plans, the Company recognizes, as of the Company’s measurement date, any unrecognized actuarial gains and losses that exceed 10% of the larger of projected benefit
obligations or plan assets (the “corridor”). Prevailing interest rates on the measurement date are one of the factors used to determine the Company’s year-end liability, corridor charges and subsequent year’s expense for these
benefit plans. Based on the prevailing interest rates and on other relevant assumptions made by the Company, including the impact related to the higher level of retirements, primarily at its Middletown Works, the pre-tax effect of a 2006 non-cash
charge related to other postretirement benefit plans was $133.2. There was no corridor charge related to pensions in 2006 and no corridor charges for pension and other postretirement benefit plans for 2007.

STYLE="margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">In September 2006, the FASB issued FAS 158 which required the Company to fully recognize and disclose an asset or liability for the overfunded or
underfunded status of its benefit plans in financial statements as of December 31, 2006. For most companies subject to FASB standards, as expected, this resulted in a significant increase in recorded pension and OPEB liabilities. For the
Company, however, the adoption of FAS 158 did not have that effect. Rather, at December 31, 2006, it resulted in a reduction of the Company’s intangible asset of $32.9, a decrease in pension and other postretirement benefit liabilities of
$159.8 and an increase to equity of $142.7, net of tax. FAS 158 requires the Company to change its measurement date from October 31 to the Company’s December 31 fiscal year-end date, by December 31, 2008.

STYLE="margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">Based on current assumptions, the Company will be required to make pension contributions during 2008 totaling approximately $150.0, of which a $75.0
contribution was made in the first quarter of 2008. The amount and timing of future required contributions to the pension trust depend on the use of assumptions concerning future events. The most significant of these assumptions relate to future
investment performance of the pension funds, actuarial data relating to plan participants and the benchmark interest rate used to discount benefits to their present value. Because of the variability of factors underlying these assumptions, including
the possibility of future pension legislation, the reliability of estimated future pension contributions decreases as the length of time until the contribution must be made increases. Currently, the Company’s major pension plans are
significantly underfunded. As a result, absent major increases in long-term interest rates, above average returns on pension plan assets and/or changes in legislated funding requirements, the Company will be required to make contributions to its
pension trusts of varying amounts in the long-term. Some of these contributions could be substantial. Currently, the Company estimates required contributions for 2009 through 2011 to be in the range of $170.0 to $180.0.

STYLE="margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">The Company provides healthcare benefits to most of its employees and retirees. Based on the assumptions used to value other postretirement benefits,
primarily retiree healthcare and life insurance benefits, annual cash payments for these benefits are expected to be in a range of $68.4 to $165.1 before reflecting the Settlement

 


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with the Middletown Works retirees, and in a range of $23.0 to $110.1 after reflecting that Settlement, in each of the next 30 years. The total projected
future benefit obligation of the Company with respect to payments for healthcare benefits is included in “Pension and other postretirement benefit obligations” in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The net amount
recognized by the Company as of the end of 2007 for future payment of such healthcare benefit obligations was nearly $2.0 billion.

SIZE="2">Accounting for retiree healthcare benefits requires the use of actuarial methods and assumptions, including assumptions about current employees’ future retirement dates, the anticipated mortality rate of retirees, anticipated future
increases in healthcare costs and the obligation of the Company under future collective bargaining agreements with respect to healthcare benefits for retirees. Changing any of these assumptions could have a material impact on the calculation of the
Company’s total obligation for future healthcare benefits. For example, the Company’s calculation of its future retiree healthcare benefit obligation as of the end of 2007 assumed that the Company would continue to provide healthcare
benefits to current and future retirees. If this assumption is altered, it could have a material effect on the calculation of the Company’s total future retiree healthcare benefit obligation. This assumption could be altered as a result of one
or more of the following developments.

First, retirees could consent to a change in the current level of healthcare benefits provided to
them. Second, in certain instances, the union which represented a particular group of retirees when they were employed by the Company could, in the course of negotiations with the Company, accept such a change. Third, in certain instances, at or
following the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement which affects the Company’s obligation to provide healthcare benefits to retired employees, the Company could take action to modify or terminate the benefits provided to those
retirees without the agreement of those retirees or the union, subject to the right of the union subsequently to bargain to alter or reverse such action by the Company. The precise circumstances under which retiree healthcare benefits may be altered
unilaterally or by agreement with a particular union vary depending on the terms of the relevant collective bargaining agreement. Some of these developments already have occurred and either already have impacted, or may impact in the future, the
Company’s retiree healthcare benefit obligation. The most significant of these developments are summarized below.

On
November 20, 2006, members of the United Steelworkers (USW) ratified a new 51-month labor agreement covering approximately 300 hourly production and maintenance employees at the Company’s Mansfield Works. Under the agreement, the existing
defined benefit pension plan was “locked and frozen” as of February 28, 2007 with subsequent contributions to the Steelworker’s Pension Trust fund. As a result, the Company was required to recognize the past service pension
expense that previously would have been amortized. The new contract expires on March 31, 2011.

On March 14, 2007, members of the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (“IAM”) ratified a new 54-month labor agreement covering about 1,700 hourly production and maintenance employees at the Company’s Middletown Works. Under the agreement, the
existing defined benefit pension plan was “locked and frozen” as of May 26, 2007 with subsequent contributions to the IAM National Pension Fund. As a result, the Company was required to recognize the past service pension expense that
previously would have been amortized. The new contract expires on September 15, 2011.

As a result of the ratification of the new
labor contracts at Mansfield Works and Middletown Works, the Company recognized curtailment charges in the first and second quarters of 2007 of $15.1 and $24.7, respectively. Under these agreements, the existing defined benefit pension plan at each
facility was “locked and frozen” with subsequent Company contributions being made to multiemployer pension trusts.

Since late
2003, the Company has negotiated new labor agreements with the various unions at all of its represented facilities. These new labor agreements, along with the Company’s overall efforts to reduce its total employment costs, have enabled the
Company to reduce its pre-tax labor costs by approximately $225.0 on an

 


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annualized basis. In addition, during this time period the new labor contracts and the Company’s overall actions to reduce employment costs have
resulted in a significant reduction in the Company’s OPEB liability. Under GAAP, the Company may not recognize this benefit immediately. Rather, it is required to amortize the net benefits of this reduction into future years. The Company thus
will be able to recognize the benefit of this net reduction annually through its earnings in the future as a reduction in its other postretirement benefit costs.

FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">On October 8, 2007, the Company announced that it had reached a settlement (the “Settlement”) of the claims in litigation filed against the Company by retirees of its Middletown Works relating to their
retiree health and welfare benefits. The Settlement was approved by the federal district court on February 21, 2008 and is expected to reduce the Company’s total OPEB liability of approximately $2.0 billion as of September 30, 2007 by
approximately $1.0 billion. Under the terms of the Settlement, the Company will make payments totaling $663.0 to a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association which will assume all future responsibility for health and welfare claims by the affected
retirees. If ultimately approved by the court, the Settlement not only will reduce the Company’s OPEB liability by approximately fifty percent, but also will reduce the Company’s ongoing annual healthcare expense. For a more detailed
description of the Settlement, see the discussion in the Legal Proceedings section above.

This excerpt taken from the AKS 10-K filed Feb 27, 2007.

Capital Investments

The Company anticipates 2007 capital investments of approximately $175.0 – $200.0, which the Company expects to be funded from cash and cash flow generated from operations. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has provided the Company the ability to receive tax incentives in the form of payroll tax and other withholdings over a 10-year period to help defray the costs for the installation of a vacuum degasser and caster modifications at its Ashland Works under the Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act Tax Credit Program. Through December 31, 2006, the Company has accumulated $6.6 in such withholdings, which is included as a reduction of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated financial statements. To meet the growing demand for energy efficient products used in power generation and distribution transformers, the Company is expanding its production capacity for high-quality, grain-oriented electrical steels. The Company announced in 2006 capital investments totaling $69.0 to achieve this increased electrical steel capacity in 2007 and 2008. At December 31, 2006, commitments for all future capital investments totaled approximately $10.6.

This excerpt taken from the AKS 10-K filed Mar 2, 2006.

Capital Investments

 

The Company anticipates 2006 capital investments of approximately $160.0, which the Company expects to be funded from cash and cash flow generated from operations. The Company also expects to receive the remaining restricted proceeds of $11.8 through the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority and the Ohio Department of Development which will be used to finance construction of emission control equipment for the Middletown Works’ blast furnace and basic oxygen furnaces. The total cost of this project is estimated to be approximately $65.0. The Commonwealth of Kentucky also has provided the Company the ability to receive tax incentives over a 10-year period to help defray the costs for the installation of a vacuum degasser and caster modifications at its Ashland Works facility under the Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act Tax Credit Program. Through December 31, 2005, the Company has accumulated $3.7 in withholdings, of which is included as a reduction of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated financial statements. To meet the growing demand for energy efficient products used in power generation and distribution transformers, the Company is expanding its production capacity for high-quality, grain-oriented electrical steels. The increased capacity will be achieved through a combination of small, targeted capital investments at existing production lines and by introducing innovative operating practices. At December 31, 2005, commitments for future capital investments totaled approximately $10.3.

 

This excerpt taken from the AKS 10-K filed Mar 8, 2005.

Capital Investments

 

The Company anticipates 2005 capital investments of approximately $200.0, which are expected to be funded from cash, cash flow generated from operations and the remaining restricted proceeds received through the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority which will be used to finance construction of emission control equipment for the Middletown Works’ blast furnace and basic oxygen furnaces. The total cost of this project is estimated to be approximately $66.0. The Commonwealth of Kentucky also has provided the Company the ability to receive tax incentives up to $40.0 over a 10-year period for the installation of a vacuum degasser and caster modifications at its Ashland Works facility under the Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act Tax Credit Program. The total cost of the Ashland caster and degasser project is estimated to be approximately $65.0. At December 31, 2004, commitments for future capital investments totaled approximately $17.4.

 

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