Lakeside Steel announces second quarter results

    
    ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF UPSETTING, THREADING, AND COUPLING LINE

    ANNOUNCES EXPANDED SALES TEAM
    

WELLAND, ON, Nov. 12 /CNW/ - Lakeside Steel Inc. (TSX-V: LS) ("Lakeside Steel" or the "Company") today reported results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2009 . For the three months ended September 30, 2009 , the Company's revenue was $17,812,672 , which is a decline of $40,732,295 or 69.6% compared to revenue of $58,544,967 for the 3 months ended September 30, 2008 . The Company's net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2009 was $3,021,570 , a decline of $5,774,498 from net income of $2,752,928 for the three months ended September 30, 2008 . The Company had a loss per share of $0.05 for the three months ended September 30, 2009 , compared to earnings per share of $0.04 for the three months ended September 30, 2008 .

The Company's EBITDA was ( $4,519,240 ) for the three months ended September 30, 2009 , a decline of $9,503,538 from EBITDA of $4,984,298 for the 3 months ended September 30, 2008 . Despite these losses, the Company has been able to maintain positive cash flows of $5,040,180 in the three months ended September 30, 2009 and $4,254,936 for the 6 months ended September 30, 2009 .

Demand in the oil and gas sector for the Oil Country Tubular Goods manufactured by Lakeside Steel Corporation ("Lakeside"), Lakeside Steel's wholly-owned subsidiary, has experienced a substantial reduction, as reflected in the performance above. Management believes that this trend will continue into the third quarter of fiscal 2010, but is seeing an increase in orders from Western Canada in OCTG products, and as a result is planning to add an additional shift in its production facilities starting January 2010 .

Lakeside has completed the installation of its upsetting, threading, and coupling equipment along with the installation of its three slip rail yard. Upon completion of its API certification, Lakeside will be in a position to end finish its own products (upset, thread and coupled) and then ship the finished product directly to its customers via rail. Currently, this work is being outsourced to a processor Texas. This will reduce the lead time to customers and working capital requirements going forward.

Management is pleased to announce the addition of Mark McMurray as General Manager of Sales & Procurement, Dan Jovanovic as Sales Representative, and 3 Sales Analysts to increase Lakeside's exposure in the marketplace and provide its customers with enhanced customer service.

Lakeside is implementing a plan to dispose of its PCB waste prior to its fiscal year end at March 31, 2009 , and eliminate the related environmental liability on its balance sheet. As a result of this plan, and latest estimates, the Company reduced its environmental liability by $1,400,000 to $6,600,000 for the period ended September 30, 2009 .

About Lakeside Steel Inc.

Lakeside Steel is the parent company of Lakeside. Lakeside, located in Welland, Ontario, is a diversified steel pipe and tubing manufacturer. Lakeside's list of customers includes large oil and gas, mining, automotive and commercial and industrial supply companies. In addition to supplying its products in these industries, Lakeside manufactures pipe and mechanical tubing for the resale market, which is sold to distributors in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States . Lakeside manufactures a variety of products for these industries including oil well tubing and casing, mechanical tubing, pressure tubing, automotive tubing, hollows for redraw, line pipe, heating and plumbing pipe, drill rod and specialty tubing. Lakeside serves customers worldwide, either directly or indirectly, in Canada , Australia and the United States .

This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the Company, its operations, strategy, financial performance and condition. These statements generally can be identified by use of forward looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", intends", "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The actual results and performance of the Company discussed herein could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, changes in government regulations and the factors described under "Risk Factors" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis and Filing Statement of the Company which is available at www.sedar.com. The cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to the Company and persons acting on their behalf. Unless otherwise stated, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and the Company has no obligation to update such statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information: Ron Bedard, President & Chief Operating Officer, Lakeside Steel Inc., [phone] ext. 7294, Fax: [phone], e-mail: [email protected]; Ken Hunter, Chief Financial Officer, Lakeside Steel Inc., [phone] ext 7218, Fax: [phone], e-mail: [email protected]