HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 11, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its MultiServ mill services division will significantly increase its responsibilities at two major steel mills in the U.K. and Spain under expanded, long-term contracts having a combined value of more than $200 million over their duration, including new revenues of more than 80 percent.
In the U.K., MultiServ will add substantially to its on-site material handling and transport services at the Corus Engineering Steels (CES) Aldwarke works as that facility is upgraded to become CES' primary center for steelmaking, casting, rolling and bar processing. Part of the Corus Group's Long Products Division, CES is one of Europe's leading producers of steels used in precision manufacturing. MultiServ's added responsibilities are being implemented in two phases as CES brings new ingot and continuous casting capabilities into the facility, with the full scope of MultiServ's added role expected to be well established by the first half of this year. The new responsibilities include the on-site transport and management of the mill's steel blooms, ingots, and slow-cooled materials using specialized mobile equipment owned and operated by MultiServ. MultiServ has been the principal mill services provider at CES Aldwarke for over 20 years.
In Spain, MultiServ has been awarded a multi-year contract extension at Celsa Group's Barcelona works that will increase its on-site responsibilities for metal recovery, scrap yard management and other services, while adding further services for the handling of scrap baskets and billet pallets which are currently being performed by the mill and others. The Barcelona facility, Celsa's largest, is undergoing a major expansion that is expected to effectively double its annual production capacity to approximately 2.5 million tons by 2007. MultiServ has been providing services to the Celsa Group for over 15 years, and to the Barcelona works since early 1997. Celsa is one of the largest long products steel producers in Europe.
Announcing the awards, Harsco Chairman, President and CEO Derek C. Hathaway said, "These contracts illustrate Harsco's sizable opportunities for growth and increased Economic Value Added (EVA(R)) within our existing site and customer base, one of several encouraging elements of Harsco's increasing momentum that we outlined recently in our Annual Analysts Conference presentations." An archived webcast of the Analysts Conference meeting, including presentation slides, can be accessed through the Harsco Corporation website at http://www.harsco.com.
Harsco's MultiServ division is the world's single largest provider of on-site, outsourced mill services to the steel and metals industries. The division operates at more than 160 mills in over 30 countries, offering the world's leading steel and metals producers a comprehensive portfolio of more than 50 value-enhancing services tailored to meet specific mill requirements, including integrated materials handling, semi-finished and finished product management, and by-product recovery and recycling.
Harsco Corporation is a diversified, worldwide industrial services and engineered products company with annual sales in excess of $2 billion. Harsco's market-leading businesses provide mill services, access services, gas containment and control technologies, and engineered products and services to customers worldwide. The company employs 18,000 people in more than 40 countries of operation. Additional information about Harsco, including its MultiServ division, can be found at http://www.harsco.com.
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