AK Steel Holding (AKS)

AK Steel Reports Third Quarter 2005 Results

MIDDLETOWN, OH, October 25, 2005—AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) today reported a third quarter 2005 net loss of $29.0 million, or $0.26 per share of common stock. The 2005 third quarter results included $29.5 million in costs for scheduled maintenance outages conducted at the company’s Middletown and Ashland, Kentucky facilities. In the year-ago period, AK Steel reported net income of $83.1 million, or $0.76 per share.

As previously announced, the company’s third quarter 2005 results were impacted by a significant cost increase for natural gas, primarily the result of gas production disruptions following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as increased costs for steel scrap and other raw material inputs.

Also included in the third quarter results was approximately $7 million in one-time costs associated with a new progressive labor agreement the company reached with the United Steelworkers of America during the quarter. The company said that the one-time costs associated with the new labor agreement, covering hourly employees at the company’s Ashland Works, were primarily related to initial funding of a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA), a trust fund which may be utilized to help defray future retiree and company health care cost increases. AK Steel said, however, that taken in total, the new labor agreement provides significant ongoing total employment cost savings and additional workforce flexibility for the company.

Net sales in the third quarter of 2005 were $1,393.3 million on record quarterly shipments of 1,687,000 tons, or approximately 4% and 9% higher, respectively, than sales of $1,337.3 million on shipments of 1,541,800 tons in the year-ago period. The company’s average selling price was $825 per ton in the third quarter of 2005, down from $866 per ton in the third quarter of 2004, due primarily to higher hot-rolled shipments and lower spot market prices. AK Steel reported an operating loss of $25.5 million, or $15 per ton, in the third quarter of 2005, compared to operating income $94.5 million, or $61 per ton, in the third quarter of 2004.

“AK Steel continued to perform well in all the operating and quality measures within our control,” said James L. Wainscott, president and CEO. “Clearly, however, the significant cost increases outside our control, especially the meteoric rise in natural gas following back-to-back hurricanes, more than erased the solid progress on our other cost reduction efforts. Nonetheless, we continue to see fundamental strength for our key product lines in the fourth quarter, and we anticipate lower maintenance costs.”

AK Steel also said that it was responding to the urgent need for electrical steels, used in the manufacture of transformers and other critically needed electrical infrastructure equipment, for the rebuilding efforts in the storm-affected areas in the aftermath of the recent Gulf Coast hurricanes.

For the first nine months of 2005, the company reported income from continuing operations of $39.2 million, or $0.35 per share, which includes total non-cash charges of $32.6 million, or $0.30 per share, resulting from the reduction in the value of the company’s deferred tax assets, most of which occurred in the second quarter. Sales for the first nine months of 2005 were a record $4,270.4 million, compared to $3,783.5 million in the first nine months of 2004. The company reported operating profit for the first nine months of 2005 of $162.3 million, or $34 per ton, which was higher than the $152.4 million, or $33 per ton reported in the first nine months of 2004. AK Steel reported that it ended the third quarter of 2005 with $348.7 million of cash and $472.0 million of availability under its two credit facilities.

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AK Steel Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results

MIDDLETOWN, OH, July 26, 2005 — AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) today reported second quarter 2005 net income of $9.0 million, or $0.08 per share of common stock. The results include the effect of a non-cash charge of $29.5 million, or $0.27 per share, associated with recent state tax law changes. Excluding this charge, the company’s second quarter net income would have been $38.5 million or $0.35 per share. Although the tax law changes will lower AK Steel’s state tax liability for the second half of 2005 and beyond, the changes required the company to reduce the value of its deferred tax asset in the second quarter of 2005, which gave rise to the charge.

In the year-ago period, AK Steel reported net income of $92.7 million, or $0.85 per share. The 2004 second quarter net income included an after-tax gain on the sale of assets and income related to discontinued operations. Without the asset sale gain and income from discontinued operations, second quarter 2004 net income would have been $20.2 million, or $0.18 per share.

Net sales in the second quarter of 2005 were a record $1,454.6 million on shipments of 1,610,500 tons, or approximately 11% and 3% higher, respectively, than sales of $1,311.8 million and shipments of 1,565,100 tons in the year-ago period. The company’s average selling price was $903 per ton in the second quarter of 2005, up 8% from $835 per ton in the second quarter of 2004.

AK Steel reported an operating profit of $74.2 million, or $46 per ton, in the second quarter of 2005, compared to $56.4 million, or $36 per ton, in the second quarter of 2004.

“AK Steel responded well to changing market conditions with a first-half performance that included record total and per-ton sales revenue, good cost performance and record safety and quality marks,” said James L. Wainscott, president and CEO. “We are preparing our operations for what we believe will be strengthening markets for our steel products during the second half of 2005.”

For the first six months of 2005, the company reported income from continuing operations of $68.2 million, or $0.62 per share, which includes total non-cash charges of $32.6 million, or $0.29 per share, resulting from the reduction in the value of the company’s deferred tax assets, most of which was recorded in the second quarter. Excluding these non-cash charges, income from continuing operations would have been $100.8 million, or $0.91 per share, compared to $3.8 million, or $0.03 per share, for the same period in 2004.

First-half 2005 sales were a record $2,877.1 million, compared to $2,446.2 million in the first half of 2004. The company reported operating profit for the first six months of 2005 of $187.8 million, or $60 per ton, compared to $57.9 million, or $19 per ton in the first half of 2004. AK Steel reported that it ended the second quarter of 2005 with $264.6 million of cash and $529.8 million of availability under its two credit facilities.