美国钢铁公司(美国钢铁公司收购卡内基钢铁公司)

　　编译：张毅巍

　　CMN

尽管2017年市场前景好转、钢材价格高企、库存降低，且美国政府对钢材进口设置了各种“门槛”——但是因之前未对老旧设施进行改造，美国钢铁公司难以进一步实现盈利。

在此背景下，美国钢铁公司计划投资逾12亿美元对设备进行改造升级。公布计划当日，该公司股价暴跌27%，创1991年以来股价新低。

■The ground shook from the percussion of a low-frequency boom after 200 tons of molten steel mixed with scrap metal at a massive U.S. Steel Corp. mill near Pittsburgh. It’s the same kind of explosive chemical reaction that’s been rocking the site since Andrew Carnegie built the plant 145 years ago.Many century-old assets require a lot of spending on upkeep.

■ 在美国匹兹堡附近的一家大型钢企——美国钢铁公司的一间厂房的炉子内，正在冶炼200吨加入了废钢的钢水。炉子发出阵阵低沉的隆隆声，大地也为此震动。这一系列剧烈的化学反应，与145年前安德鲁·卡内基（Andrew Carnegie）初建这家钢厂时差别并不大。在这里，众多有100岁历史的设备需要大量投资才能赶上技术的进步。

■Back then, Carnegie Steel Co.’s Edgar Thomson plant was state-of-the-art. It mass-produced the metal at lower costs than nearby competitors, and upgrades in the 1880s and 1890s left rivals scrambling to keep up. When J. Pierpont Morgan successfully merged a collection of assets with Carnegie in 1901 to create U.S. Steel, Edgar Thomson became the crown jewel of the new company.

■ 当年，卡内基钢铁公司的埃德加· 汤姆森钢铁厂(Edgar Thomson)曾处于世界领先水平，大规模生产使之能降低成本，击败了周边的竞争对手。19世纪八九十年代，该厂进行了升级改造，并在一段时间内保持了竞争优势。在约翰·皮尔庞特·摩根（J. Pierpont Morgan）1901年与卡内基进行了一系列并购后，创立了美国钢铁公司，而埃德加· 汤姆森钢铁厂则成为新公司“王冠上的明珠”。

■But U.S. Steel’s once dominant position in American manufacturing through much of the 20th century has been eroded by the emergence of domestic rivals like Nucor Corp., which use electric-arc furnaces to melt recycled metal rather than forges fueled by coal-based coke that process iron ore.

■ 但在发展过程中，美国钢铁公司在行业内的领先地位于20世纪逐渐被美国国内的新兴钢厂所取代。例如，美国纽柯钢铁公司(Nucor)使用电炉这一短流程来生产钢材，而不是使用焦炭-铁矿石这一长流程工艺来进行生产。

■After reporting losses in seven of the past eight fiscal years, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel was forced to close plants and delay many improvements. Even as the outlook began to improve in 2017 -- prices nearly doubled from a 2015 low as the government restricted imports, inventories fell and the economy began to pick up -- the failure to revitalize aging facilities was choking earnings. In April, the company announced a huge multiyear plan to get its assets back in top shape, before disclosing in July that the price tag would be $1.2 billion.

■ 在过去的8个财年中，美国钢铁公司有7年发生了亏损，并被迫关闭工厂并推延了升级项目。尽管2017年市场前景好转、钢材价格高企、库存降低，且美国政府对钢材进口设置了各种“门槛”——但是因之前未对老旧设施进行改造，美国钢铁公司难以进一步实现盈利。今年4月份，美国钢铁公司宣布一项跨年项目：投入巨资对生产设施进行改造和升级。而在三个月之后的7月份，美国钢铁公司透露这一改造升级项目的总投资将达12亿美元。

■From 2017 to 2020, U.S. Steel plans to spend $200 million improving blast furnaces, $400 million on steel-making applications, $300 million on hot-strip mills and $300 million on cold rolling and coating. That’s more expensive and will take longer than many analysts had expected. While the company raised $439 million selling shares in August 2016 to cover some of the cost, that’s about a third of the total bill.

■ 自2017年至2020年，美国钢铁公司计划投资2亿美元进行高炉改造，投资4亿美元改造炼钢设备，投资3亿美元改造热轧厂，投资3亿美元冷轧厂和涂镀厂。项目投资额和实施时间均超过市场分析师的预期。2016年8月，美国钢铁公司通过股市融资4.39亿美元，能够部分支付相关项目的投资，但仅为总投资额的1/3。

■The cost and scope of the plan stunned investors.

■投资额和项目范围震惊了投资者。

■The question for investors is whether U.S. Steel has left too much too late, with maintenance costs eroding the benefits of a market rebound.

■ 对投资者而言，问题在于美国钢铁公司过晚的、花费过多的资金进行设备维护，这侵蚀了市场反弹带来的收益。

■In April, the company cut its profit forecast and said it would embark on an unprecedented revitalization of key assets. On the day of the announcement, the shares plunged 27 percent, the most since at least 1991.

■ 今年4月份，美国公司降低了其利润预期并表示将实施史无前例的振兴计划。公布当日，公司股价暴跌27%，创1991年以来股价新低。

　　Leadership Change

　　领导层的变化

　　■The strategy already has cost former CEO Mario Longhi his job. In May, less than a month after the share plunge, he was replaced by David Burritt, who had been chief operating officer and is pushing ahead with the same spending plan.

■ 这个战略已经使该公司前任首席执行官马里奥·隆吉(Mario Longhi)丢了工作。5月份，在公司股价暴跌后不到一个月，大卫·布里特(David Burritt)接任了这一职务。大卫·布里特曾担任公司的首席运营官，目前仍然在推行相同的振兴计划。

■“When we get very focused on revitalizing our assets and we give our people the money to spend in those areas, we see the benefits through the rest of the year and into the future,” Burritt said on a conference call with analysts.

■ “当我们专注于实施我们的振兴计划，我们会支付给人们工资并在该地区消费。我们可以在今年余下的时间和未来看到收益。”布里特在与分析师们进行的电话会议中表示。

■Investors had expected a U.S. Steel rebound in 2017. Before the revitalization plan was disclosed, the shares had quintupled from the historic lows of early 2016, when the company reported a quarterly loss of almost $1 billion and said it faced significant headwinds. The outlook changed when the government levied trade duties on imported steel from countries including China, whose shipments to the U.S. fell to a five-year low.

■ 投资者期望美国钢铁公司的股价能在2017年反弹。在振兴计划公布之前，公司股价比2016年初的最低价位上涨了5倍，但公司随后公布季度亏损10亿美元并且在经营上遇到了困难。而市场预期发生了改变，其间美国政府对包括来自中国的进口钢材征收了关税，导致其向美国出口的产品数量达到5年的最低点。

■ Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the November presidential election was a boon to the domestic steel industry. He campaigned on an America-first trade policy and pledged $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. The S&P Supercomposite Steel Sub Industry Index of 13 U.S. companies is up 26% from a year earlier.

■ 唐纳德·特朗普在去年11月份总统竞选中出其不意的胜利，给美国的钢铁工业注入了强心剂。在竞选中，特朗普提出了美国优先的贸易政策并许诺投入1万亿美元进行基础设施建设。当时，13家美国钢铁公司的标准普尔超综合钢铁工业指数同比上涨26%。

　　‘Poses Challenges’

　　挑战

　　■ The gains were short-lived. U.S. Steel shares have yet to recover from the plunge in April and are down 19% this year -- despite eight straight gains amid reports the company may sell its Slovak unit.

■ 上涨是短暂的。美国钢铁公司的股价尚未从4月份的暴跌中恢复过来。尽管经历了8个交易日的连续上涨（指从9月25日-10月4日中的8个交易日，美国钢铁公司的股价连续上涨），同时公司宣布计划出售其斯洛伐克的钢厂，美国钢铁公司的股价(截至10月4日)相比于今年年初，仍下跌了约19%。

　　■ “Where are their competitors going to be when this revitalization program is done?” Novid Rassouli, an analyst at Cowan & Co., said in a telephone interview. “No one is stopping for them to get their assets back to where they want them, so I think that poses challenges for them.”

■ “等他们的振兴计划完成后，他们会被现在的竞争者甩得更远。”考恩公司(Cowan&Co.)的分析师诺维特·拉苏利(Novid Rassouli)在一次电话采访中说，“没有人会停下来等他们完成计划， 所以我想这对他们是一个挑战。”

■ Burritt helped to soothe the concerns of some analysts in July with a detailed explanation of plans for eight major upgrade projects this year, as well as the benefits of increased production and profitability once the work was completed. The company also maintained its guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

■ 大卫·布里特曾经在7月份详细讲解了公司今年的8个主要项目，期望能获得分析师的理解。他表示，在项目完成后，随着产量的上升和利润水平的上涨，收益会进一步增加。公司同时也维持了息税折旧和摊销后的数据不变。

　　‘Very Volatile’

　　起伏非常大

■ “This whole theory that some people have out there that U.S. Steel has grossly underinvested for years and the place is falling apart and they’ll have to reinvest every penny here on out to get back on equal footing with their competitors is a stretch,” said Michael Gambardella, a steel analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “It’s just a very volatile sector.”

■ “大家普遍认为，美国钢铁公司常年缺乏投资，所有设备陈旧不堪，需要将全部资金用于投资才能追赶上竞争对手。但这个说法有些过分夸大了。”摩根大通公司的钢铁分析师迈克尔·甘巴德拉表示，“这只是一个市场周期起伏很大的领域。”

■ There’s also still a strong possibility that Trump will pass tariffs, quotas or a mix of both on steel imports, which would provide a major boost to U.S. Steel and other domestic producers, Gambardella said.

■ 另外，还有一个很大的可能是特朗普会针对进口钢铁实施税收、配额和两个方式结合起来的方案。这对美国钢铁公司和其他国内钢铁生产商而言将是一个极大的支持，甘巴德拉表示。

■ U.S. Steel still has an advantage over mini-mills in supplying higher-purity steel preferred by automakers. These products sell at higher profit margins than rebar produced from recycled metal by Nucor and Steel Dynamics Inc. for use for construction and infrastructure, though those companies are working to improve quality to expand their market share.

■ 与短流程钢厂相比，在向汽车生产商提供高纯度钢材产品方面，美国钢铁公司仍然占有优势。销售这些产品的利润远高于使用废钢生产螺纹钢等建材和基础设施用钢的纽柯钢铁公司和钢动力有限公司，尽管这些企业同样在努力提高质量并拓展市场份额。

■ “It’s a very pivotal moment in U.S. Steel’s life as a company here, and execution is key,” Cowan’s Rassouli said. “There’s been a fair amount of investor confidence that’s been eroded, so it’s a long journey to build that back. It takes a lifetime to build trust, and one second to lose it.

■ “对于美国钢铁公司而言，这是一个重要时刻，执行是其关键。”拉苏利说，“相当一部分投资者的信心受到极大的影响，而重建信心的过程是长久的。信任需要一生的时间去建立，只需要一秒钟可以失去。”

　　编译自：

　　U.S. Steel Missing Prime Profit With Upgrade at Aging Plants（Bloomberg）