Report highlights senior steel executives’ predictions for steel and metal growth

Headwall Partners LLC, Greenwich, Conn., an independent corporate finance and strategic advisory firm focused on the steel and metals industry, has published the "Headwall 2019 Annual Steel & Metals Growth Survey.” The survey summarizes the perspectives of senior steel sector executives who have identified mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as the key source of strategic growth at their companies for the next three years.

Peter J. Scott, founder and managing partner of Headwall Partners, commented, “This year’s growth survey indicates that the market is primed for a meaningful uptick in M&A. Senior sector executives indicated optimism about near-term growth at their companies as a result of the past and expected future Trump administration policies.”

Thomas A. Danjczek, senior adviser to Headwall Partners, added, “The survey respondents were extremely positive regarding expected steel sector production volume, pricing, and financial performance."

Headwall conducted a detailed survey of sector executives at the chairman, CEO, and CFO levels to assess how management teams in the steel industry are pursuing growth. Participating companies represented a broad spectrum of the industry’s subsectors, sizes, and ownership structures. The survey focused on the policies of the Trump administration, general expectations for economic and sector growth rates, and corporate plans for strategic growth.

According to the survey, 90 percent of respondents believe the economic policies of the Trump administration had a positive impact on recent U.S. GDP growth. Sixty-seven percent of respondents believe these policies will have a positive impact on 2019 GDP, down from last year’s response.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents are more optimistic about the prospects for their companies’ financial performance over the next three years than over the past three years, also down from last year’s survey. Eighty-six percent of respondents expect their company to be equally active or more active in M&A over the next three years than in the past three.