Reliance, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results

– Strongest Q4 growth since 2021 with net sales of $3.5 billion up 11.9% and record tons sold up 5.8% year-over-year

– 2025 net sales of $14.3 billion up 3.3% year-over-year

– Record annual tons sold of 6.4 million up 6.2%

– Repurchased $594.1 million of common stock in 2025 reducing outstanding shares by 4%, including $200.1 million in Q4

– Increased quarterly dividend 4.2% to $1.25 per share (annual: $5.00)

PHOENIX, Feb. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliance, Inc. (NYSE: RS) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.

Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights

Tons sold increased 5.8% compared to the prior year, driving a strong 11.9% increase in net sales. Consistent with seasonal patterns and management’s guidance, tons sold declined 5.4% compared to the third quarter of 2025 and average selling price per ton sold increased 0.9%, attributable in part to higher aluminum pricing, exceeding management’s expectation of relatively flat sequential pricing.

The Company recorded $113.7 million of LIFO expense for the full year of 2025 which resulted in $38.7 million of LIFO expense for the fourth quarter of 2025, exceeding management’s $25 million LIFO expense expectation due mainly to higher than anticipated aluminum cost increases.

Stronger shipments and pricing drove a $45.2 million, or 28.2%, increase in fourth quarter non-GAAP FIFO pretax income to $205.6 million.

Earnings per diluted share improved 15% year-over-year. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $2.40 included a net unfavorable year-end LIFO and income tax true-up impact of $0.25 per share, compared to management’s non-GAAP earnings per diluted share guidance of $2.65 to $2.85. Normalizing for these LIFO and tax impacts, non-GAAP EPS would have been within management’s guidance at $2.65.

Full Year 2025 Financial Highlights

Net sales increased 3.3% compared to 2024 with tons sold up 6.2% to an annual record. The 2025 increase in the Company’s tons sold significantly outperformed the industry-wide decline of 1.0% reported by the Metals Service Center Institute (“MSCI”) by more than seven percentage points.

Gross profit was $4.11 billion, consistent with the prior year. Non-GAAP FIFO gross profit margin, which excludes LIFO adjustments, expanded 0.9% over 2024 to 29.6% in 2025. Non-GAAP LIFO gross profit margin decreased 0.9% to 28.8% in 2025 from 29.7% in 2024, driven by a significant year-over-year swing in LIFO adjustments — from $144 million of LIFO income in 2024 to $114 million of LIFO expense in 2025.

Overall, 2025 earnings per diluted share declined 10.2% from 2024; however, excluding the impact of significant LIFO adjustments from both periods, 2025 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $15.88, a 13.5% increase from $13.99 in 2024.

Management Commentary

“In 2025, we demonstrated strong operational execution and continued market share gains, underscoring the strength of our business model amid a complex macroeconomic backdrop and competitive operating environment,” said Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Reliance. “Our commitment to smart, profitable growth drove full year shipments to a record 6.4 million tons sold, representing a significant increase in our domestic market share to about 17% from 15% in 2024. By maintaining our focus on exceptional customer service, capturing new market opportunities through our ongoing strategic investments, and leveraging operating expenses over higher volumes, we delivered solid profitable growth and strengthened our long-term market position. We grew our 2025 shipments in products and markets with solid demand and increased gross profit margins, offset by transitory margin headwinds in certain other products and end markets.”

Mrs. Lewis continued, “Our 2025 results highlight how Reliance’s diversified business model and unrivaled scale help offset market-specific weaknesses and support stable performance through economic cycles. Entering 2026, we are operating in a healthy demand and strong pricing environment, with increasing customer optimism. Reliance has the unique scale, capabilities, talent, and capital to continue growing both our core business of small orders with quick turnaround and our participation in large scale projects, including increasing activity in the infrastructure, data center, energy, and defense sectors. We are excited by the opportunity to continue our profitable growth journey in 2026.”

End Market Commentary

Reliance delivers a diverse range of metal products and value-added processing services to a wide variety of end markets, generally in small quantities on an as-needed basis.

Non-residential construction demand (including infrastructure), representing Reliance’s largest end market by tons, improved from both the fourth quarter and full year of 2024. The Company expects demand to remain healthy in the first quarter of 2026, supported by continued new construction projects across diverse sectors including data centers, energy infrastructure, and public infrastructure.

Demand across the broader manufacturing end market Reliance serves improved compared to both the fourth quarter and full year of 2024, primarily due to growth in the military, industrial machinery, consumer products, construction machinery, rail, and shipbuilding sectors. Reliance anticipates that demand for its products across the broader manufacturing sector will remain healthy in the first quarter of 2026.

Demand in aerospace improved compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 and was flat compared to the full year of 2024. Reliance anticipates commercial aerospace demand to remain consistent in the first quarter of 2026 with build-rate increases supporting improvement throughout the year. Demand in the defense and space related portions of Reliance’s aerospace business is expected to remain at strong levels in the first quarter of 2026.

Demand for the toll processing services Reliance provides to the automotive market improved compared to the full year of 2024 and was relatively flat in the fourth quarter compared to the 2024 fourth quarter. The Company expects demand for automotive toll processing to remain relatively steady at healthy levels in the first quarter of 2026, subject to continuing fluidity surrounding North American trade policy. Reliance’s toll processing operations remain flexible and able to quickly adapt to changes in the automotive market.

Demand for certain products Reliance sells into the semiconductor market remained under pressure compared to both the fourth quarter and full year of 2024. The Company anticipates excess inventory in the supply chain for its products will continue to impact semiconductor demand in the first quarter of 2026.

Financial Position and Cash Flow

As of December 31, 2025, Reliance’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $216.6 million with total debt outstanding of $1.43 billion, including $277.0 million of outstanding borrowings under the Company’s $1.5 billion revolving credit facility.

Reliance generated cash flow from operations of $276.1 million in the fourth quarter and $831.4 million for the full year of 2025. Reliance consistently generates strong cash flow from operations across market cycles, enabling disciplined and opportunistic capital deployment.

For the full year of 2025, $1.18 billion of capital was deployed towards stockholder returns and organic growth activities. The Company’s stockholder returns included $594.1 million of share repurchases and $254.7 million of dividends. Organic growth activities included $328.9 million of capital expenditures.

Stockholder Return Activity

On February 13, 2026, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 per share of common stock, an increase of 4.2% payable on March 20, 2026 to stockholders of record as of March 6, 2026. Reliance has paid regular quarterly cash dividends for 66 consecutive years without reduction or suspension and has increased the dividend 33 times since its 1994 IPO to a current annual rate of $5.00 per common share.

Reliance repurchased approximately 716 thousand shares of its common stock in the fourth quarter of 2025 at an average price of $279.30 per share, for a total of $200.1 million. During 2025, Reliance repurchased approximately 2.2 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $276.05 per share, for a total of $594.1 million. As of December 31, 2025, $763.5 million remained available under the Company’s share repurchase program that was replenished to $1.5 billion on October 22, 2024. Over the last five years, Reliance has repurchased approximately 13.5 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $230.73 per share for a total of $3.12 billion.

Business Outlook

Reliance anticipates continued healthy demand in the first quarter of 2026 across several of the key end markets it serves, subject to ongoing domestic and international trade policy uncertainty. The Company estimates tons sold in the first quarter of 2026 will be up 5% to 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, in line with normal seasonal patterns and coming off of a record fourth quarter tons sold. Reliance expects its average selling price per ton sold for the first quarter of 2026 will be up 3% to 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 on announced mill price increases from healthy demand. In addition, the Company anticipates a modest improvement in FIFO gross profit margin in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the fourth quarter of 2025. Based on these expectations, the Company anticipates non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $4.50 to $4.70 for the first quarter of 2026, reflecting year-over-year growth of 19% to 25% and inclusive of LIFO expense of $25 million or $0.36 per diluted share.

Conference Call Details

A conference call and simultaneous webcast to discuss Reliance’s fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results and business outlook will be held on Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. To listen to the live call by telephone, please dial (877) 407-0792 (U.S. and Canada) or (201) 689-8263 (International) approximately 10 minutes prior to the start time and use conference ID: 13757939. The call will also be broadcast live over the Internet hosted on the Investors section of the Company's website at investor.reliance.com.

For those unable to participate during the live broadcast, a replay of the call will also be available beginning that same day at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 5, 2026, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or (412) 317-6671 (International) and entering the conference ID: 13757939. The webcast will remain posted on the Investors section of Reliance’s website at reliance.com for 90 days.

About Reliance, Inc.

Founded in 1939, Reliance, Inc. (NYSE: RS) is a leading global diversified metal solutions provider and the largest metals service center company in North America. Through a network of approximately 310 locations in 41 states and 10 countries outside of the United States, Reliance provides value-added metals processing services and distributes a full-line of over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers in a broad range of industries. Reliance focuses on small orders with quick turnaround and value-added processing services. In 2025, Reliance’s average order size was $3,120, approximately 49% of orders included value-added processing, and approximately 40% of orders were delivered within 24 hours. Reliance’s press releases and additional information are available on the Company’s website at reliance.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, discussions of Reliance’s: industry and end markets; business strategies; acquisitions; expectations concerning the Company’s future growth and profitability; ability to generate industry leading returns for its stockholders; future demand and metals pricing; results of operations; margins; profitability; taxes; liquidity; cash flows; capital expenditures; expectations for macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and the possibility of an economic recession or slowdown; anticipated effects from regulatory changes, including taxation, tariffs and other trade barriers; litigation matters and capital resources. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “range,” “intend” and “continue,” the negative of these terms, and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's estimates, projections and assumptions as of today’s date that may not prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, but not limited to, actions taken by Reliance, as well as developments beyond its control, including, but not limited to: changes in domestic and worldwide political and economic conditions; changes in U.S. and foreign trade policies and programs, including tariffs and trade policies and programs specifically affecting metals product markets and pricing; slowing economic growth, inflation, rising unemployment or other macroeconomic factors that could materially impact Reliance, its customers and suppliers; metals pricing; demand for Reliance’s products and services; the possibility that the expected benefits of acquisitions and capital expenditures may not materialize as expected; and the impacts of labor constraints and supply chain disruptions. Deteriorations in economic conditions, including as a result of tariffs or trade barriers, economic policies, inflation, economic recession, slowing growth, outbreaks of infectious disease, or geopolitical conflicts such as in Ukraine and the Middle East, could lead to a decline in demand for the Company’s products and services and negatively impact its business, and may also impact financial markets and corporate credit markets which could adversely impact the Company’s access to financing or the terms of any financing. The Company cannot at this time predict all of the impacts of domestic and foreign tariffs and trade policies, inflation, product price fluctuations, economic recession, outbreaks of infectious disease, or geopolitical conflicts and related economic effects, but these factors, individually or in any combination, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Reliance disclaims any and all obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason, except as may be required by law. Important risks and uncertainties about Reliance’s business can be found in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and in other documents Reliance files or furnishes with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:

(213) 576-2428

investor@reliance.com

or Addo Investor Relations

(310) 829-5400

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