Business Segments (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2012

Summary of certain financial information from continuing operations by reportable segment

The following is a summary of certain financial information from continuing operations by reportable segment:



	Three Months Ended November 30, 2012
	Americas							International
(in thousands)	Recycling		Mills		Fabrication			Mill		Marketing and Distribution			Corporate			Eliminations			Continuing Operations
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	307,471	$	306,816	$	352,747		$	215,858	$	603,535		$	2,799		$	—		$	1,789,226
Intersegment sales	44,490		189,633		3,845			6,209		5,053			—			(249,230		)	—
Net sales	351,961		496,449		356,592			222,067		608,588			2,799			(249,230		)	1,789,226
Adjusted operating profit (loss)	4,494		52,522		10,192			876		40,161			(17,370		)	(660		)	90,215
Total assets*	277,756		660,400		623,055			536,787		894,807			1,028,927			(527,995		)	3,493,737

	Three Months Ended November 30, 2011
	Americas							International
(in thousands)	Recycling		Mills		Fabrication			Mill		Marketing and Distribution			Corporate			Eliminations			Continuing Operations
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	373,393	$	344,566	$	315,517		$	252,921	$	700,363		$	60		$	—		$	1,986,820
Intersegment sales	41,412		180,930		4,251			43,260		9,708			—			(279,561		)	—
Net sales	414,805		525,496		319,768			296,181		710,071			60			(279,561		)	1,986,820
Adjusted operating profit (loss)	20,816		57,931		(7,380		)	9,822		(4,101		)	(23,268		)	(6,145		)	47,675
Total assets at August 31, 2012*	285,136		676,909		629,970			529,160		870,933			961,654			(519,117		)	3,434,645

* Excludes total assets from discontinued operations of $3.8 million at November 30, 2012 and $6.6 million at August 31, 2012.

Reconciliation of consolidated adjusted operating profit (loss) to earnings (loss) from continuing operations

The following table provides a reconciliation of consolidated adjusted operating profit to net earnings from continuing operations:



	Three Months Ended November 30,
(in thousands)	2012		2011
Earnings from continuing operations	$	49,467	$	125,045
Income taxes (benefit)	22,515		(95,327		)
Interest expense	17,024		16,297
Discounts on sales of accounts receivable	1,209		1,660
Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations	90,215		47,675
Adjusted operating profit (loss) from discontinued operations	388		(26,552		)
Adjusted operating profit	$	90,603	$	21,123

External net sales from continuing operations by major product and geographic area and long-lived assets by geographic area

The following represents the Company’s external net sales from continuing operations by major product and geographic area:



	Three Months Ended November 30,
(in thousands)	2012		2011
Major product information:
Steel products	$	1,104,597	$	1,155,840
Industrial materials	243,431		320,502
Nonferrous scrap	181,333		194,298
Ferrous scrap	151,017		207,346
Construction materials	48,148		44,494
Nonferrous products	39,122		40,113
Other	21,578		24,227
Net sales	$	1,789,226	$	1,986,820



	Three Months Ended November 30,
(in thousands)	2012		2011
Geographic area:
United States	$	1,022,105	$	1,153,779
Europe	285,042		352,188
Asia	310,029		281,042
Australia	153,656		147,563
Other	18,394		52,248
Net sales	$	1,789,226	$	1,986,820

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of all significant reconciling items in the reconciliation of total profit or loss from reportable segments, to the entity's consolidated income before income taxes, extraordinary items, and discontinued operations.

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- Definition

Tabular disclosure of information concerning material long-lived assets (excluding financial instruments, customer relationships with financial institutions, mortgage and other servicing rights, deferred policy acquisition costs, and deferred taxes assets) located in identified geographic areas and/or the amount of revenue from external customers attributed to that country from which revenue is material. An entity may also provide subtotals of geographic information about groups of countries.

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- Definition

Tabular disclosure of the profit or loss and total assets for each reportable segment. An entity discloses certain information on each reportable segment if the amounts (a) are included in the measure of segment profit or loss reviewed by the chief operating decision maker or (b) are otherwise regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker, even if not included in that measure of segment profit or loss.

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