Segment Reporting

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting

Segment Reporting

The Company distributes and performs processing on both metals and plastics. Although the distribution processes are similar, the customer markets, supplier bases and types of products are different. Additionally, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, the chief operating decision-maker, reviews and manages these two businesses separately. As such, these businesses are considered reportable segments and are reported accordingly.

In its Metals segment, the Company’s marketing strategy focuses on distributing highly engineered specialty grades and alloys of metals as well as providing specialized processing services designed to meet very precise specifications. Core products include alloy, aluminum, stainless, nickel, titanium and carbon. Inventories of these products assume many forms such as plate, sheet, extrusions, round bar, hexagon bar, square and flat bar, tubing and coil. Depending on the size of the facility and the nature of the markets it serves, service centers are equipped as needed with bar saws, plate saws, oxygen and plasma arc flame cutting machinery, trepanning machinery, boring machinery, honing equipment, water-jet cutting, stress relieving and annealing furnaces, surface grinding equipment and sheet shearing equipment. This segment also performs various specialized fabrications for its customers through pre-qualified subcontractors that thermally process, turn, polish and straighten alloy and carbon bar.

The Company’s Plastics segment consists exclusively of a wholly-owned subsidiary that operates as Total Plastics, Inc. (“TPI”) headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Plastics segment stocks and distributes a wide variety of plastics in forms that include plate, rod, tube, clear sheet, tape, gaskets and fittings. Processing activities within this segment include cut-to-length, cut-to-shape, bending and forming according to customer specifications. The Plastics segment’s diverse customer base consists of companies in the retail (point-of-purchase), automotive, marine, office furniture and fixtures, safety products, life sciences applications, and general manufacturing industries. TPI has locations throughout the upper northeast and midwest regions of the U.S. and one facility in Florida from which it services a wide variety of users of industrial plastics.

The accounting policies of all segments are the same as described in Note 1, “Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. Management evaluates the performance of its business segments based on operating income.

Segment information for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 is as follows:

	Net Sales		Operating (Loss) Income			Capital Expenditures		Depreciation & Amortization
2013
Metals segment	$	258,380	$	(275	)	$	1,127	$	6,165
Plastics segment	34,334		1,181			480		406
Other (a)	—		(1,879		)	—		—
Consolidated	$	292,714	$	(973	)	$	1,607	$	6,571
2012
Metals segment	$	331,892	$	20,111		$	1,652	$	6,306
Plastics segment	31,024		537			401		307
Other (a)	—		(2,492		)	—		—
Consolidated	$	362,916	$	18,156		$	2,053	$	6,613

^(a)  “Other” – Operating income includes the costs of executive, legal and finance departments, which are shared by both the Metals and Plastics segments.

Below are reconciliations of segment data to consolidated (loss) income before income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012:

	March 31,
	2013			2012
Operating (loss) income	$	(973	)	$	18,156
Interest expense, net	(10,188		)	(10,193		)
Interest expense - unrealized loss on debt conversion option	—			(11,340		)
Other income (expense)	(2,299		)	442
Loss before income taxes and equity in earnings of joint venture	(13,460		)	(2,935		)
Equity in earnings of joint venture	1,469			3,008
Consolidated (loss) income before income taxes	$	(11,991	)	$	73

Segment information for total assets is as follows:

	March 31, 2013		December 31, 2012
Metals segment	$	678,352	$	693,803
Plastics segment	58,808		56,149
Other (a)	37,632		38,854
Consolidated	$	774,792	$	788,806

^(a)  “Other” — Total assets consist of the Company's investment in joint venture.