BlueScope Steel Revenue and Competitors

About Our Bond Our Bond - the company charter of BlueScope Steel - expresses the principles that serve to guide our decisions and actions. About two hundred employees from across BlueScope Steel were involved in creating the document. From the employee contributions, it was clear that having a document which clearly articulated BlueScope Steel's aims and embodied our aspirations as a company was enormously important to all. The modern BlueScope Steel Limited has evolved from the coming together of three pioneer companies in the Australian steel industry (The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, John Lysaght (Australia) Pty Ltd and Australian Iron & Steel Limited) together with the more recent acquisitions of New Zealand Steel and Butler Manufacturing. The Beginning Our roots go back to The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, founded in 1885 to mine silver, lead and zinc deposits in far western New South Wales. In 1915, the company moved into steelmaking, opening a works at Newcastle to meet Australia's growing demand for steel products. This demand intensified during the First World War when foreign supplies were cut off. In 1918 John Lysaght (Australia) Pty Ltd was founded to serve the Australian building and construction industry. Galvanized steel from Lysaght's English factory had already established the market for high quality coated steel building products, sold under Lysaght's famous 'ORB' brand, that was to contribute to a uniquely Australian style of architecture that still dominates the rural landscape. Lysaght pioneered modern steel coating technologies. Australian Iron & Steel Limited (AIS) was formed in 1928 to operate a steelworks at Port Kembla in New South Wales adjacent to the region's abundant coalfields. The Port Kembla Steelworks has grown to become one of the world's most successful and efficient steel plants, a low-cost facility that is a significant source of the modern BlueScope Steel's competitive advantage. AI&S was acquired by BHP in 1935. John Lysaght (Australia) Pty Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1979. From the outset of its involvement in the steel industry, BHP had been heavily export-orientated and international in its focus. Exports began in the first year of steel production and the company opened its first overseas marketing office in Singapore in 1935. New Zealand Steel was founded in 1968 to convert the rich iron sands of Waikato North Head, near Auckland, into modern steel products for the New Zealand and export markets. It became a part of BlueScope Steel in 1989. BlueScope Steel has been developing its network of coating lines and rollforming plants across Asia since the late 1960s, with the production and distribution of LYSAGHT® building products in Singapore and Malaysia. Today the company is a major supplier to customers in all major Asian markets supplied from state of the art coating lines in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. These investments marked a shift in corporate strategy from a focus on the Australian domestic market to a multi-domestic strategy. Aligned with this was a commitment to the production of flat steel products and a recognition that this market segment held the greatest potential for growth and world competitiveness. Excess global steelmaking capacity caused BHP to close the loss-making Newcastle Steelworks in 1999. In doing so, the company again prepared itself for success, ensuring its operations were efficient, cost-effective and able to meet the challenges of a changing industry and changing markets. In October 2000, the long products components of BlueScope Steel's business - including the Whyalla Steelworks, the downstream market mills which continued to operate in Newcastle and various steel distribution assets - were separated from the company and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as OneSteel Limited. In March 2001, BHP announced two major decisions: that it was merging with the Anglo-African mining house Billiton plc to form a dual-listed company called BHP Billiton; and that BlueScope Steel was to be spun out as a separate Australian publicly listed company. BlueScope Steel Limited (formerly known as BHP Steel) was ultimately listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 15 July 2002. Since the public listing BlueScope Steel has expanded further in to Asia with the development of new plants in China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The company adopted its new name of BlueScope Steel in November 2003. In April 2004, BlueScope Steel acquired Butler Manufacturing in the United States. Founded in 1901, Butler Manufacturing is today the leading designer and producer of pre-engineered buildings in North America and China. Butler is based in Kansas City and sells through about 4,000 independent dealers and contractors, and through strategic alliances with other corporations. BlueScope Steel acquired Smorgon Steel Distribution in August 2007. The acquisition provides BlueScope Steel with improved channels to the Australian steel distribution market and increases its ability to add value to its hot rolled coil and other flat steel products through a growing national network of steel service centres. In February 2008, the Company completed the acquisition of IMSA Steel Corp, its largest acquisition since listing on the ASX. The acquisition increased BlueScope Steel's presence in the North American building products and solutions markets by broadening its scope and geographic reach beyond the platform that was originally established through the acquisition of Butler Manufacturing Company.