Company: ZEUS
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-004742
Chunk: 698

Company: OLYMPIC STEEL INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 6
Chunk 698
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compared to the LIFO income recorded in 2023, which increased gross profit by 2.2%.

Operating expenses (as defined in footnote (c) in the table above) increased $5.8 million, or 7.1%, to $87.2  million in 2024 from $81.4  million in 2023. As a percentage of net sales, operating expenses increased to 26.0% in 2024 compared to 22.1% in 2023. Operating expenses increased primarily due to the October 2, 2023 acquisition of CTB, partially offset by lower year-over-year variable performance based compensation.

Operating income for 2024 totaled $28.8 million, or 8.6% of net sales, compared to $40.7 million, or 11.0% of net sales, in 2023.

Corporate expenses

Corporate expenses decreased $3.4 million, or 16.6%, to $17.1  million in 2024 compared to $20.5  million in 2023. Corporate expense decreased primarily due to the absence of $3.5 million of fees related to the 2023 acquisitions of Metal-Fab and CTB and lower variable performance-based incentive compensation.

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Cash Flows

Our principal capital requirements include funding working capital needs, purchasing, upgrading and acquiring processing equipment and facilities, making acquisitions and paying dividends. We use cash generated from operations and borrowings under our asset-based credit facility, or ABL Credit Facility, to fund these requirements.

We believe that funds available under our ABL Credit Facility, together with funds generated from operations, will be sufficient to provide us with the liquidity necessary to fund anticipated working capital requirements, capital expenditure requirements, our dividend payments and any share repurchases and business acquisitions over at least the next 12 months and for the foreseeable future thereafter. In the future, we may as part of our business strategy, acquire and dispose of assets or other companies in the same or complementary lines of business, or enter into or exit strategic alliances and joint ventures. Accordingly, the timing and size of our capital requirements are subject to change as business conditions warrant and opportunities arise.

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2024 Compared to 2023

Operating Activities

During 2024, we generated $33.7 million of cash from operations, of which $53.9