Leon Topalian
Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer at Nucor
Thanks, Jack, and welcome everyone. I'd like to begin by congratulating our 32,000 Nucor teammates for delivering another strong year of financial results. We closed out 2023 with solid performance earning $3.16 per share in the fourth quarter, on our way to $18 per share for the full year. This represents the third most profitable year in Nucor's history behind 2022 and 2021. In fact, Nucor's combined net earnings over the past three years exceeds the combined net earnings of the last 20 years. This is a testament to the focus and dedication of our team as we execute our strategy to grow the core, expand beyond and live our culture.
In keeping with our commitment to shareholders and our balanced approach towards capital allocation, Nucor invested $2.2 billion in capex and returned $2.1 billion to shareholders in 2023, representing 46% of our net earnings. We're coming off the three best years in Nucor's history. But in spite of that, we're even more excited about what lies ahead.
The U.S. economy continues to be resilient and steel intensive mega-trends are starting to drive increased demand for the products we make and our focus on expand beyond businesses downstream are generating excellent returns.
Turning to our safety performance. 2023 statistically was the safest year in Nucor's history making five straight years of improvement. We also had 29 divisions going the entire year without a recordable injury. We finished the year with a company-wide injury and illness rate of 0.79, which is 17% lower than 2022 and well below the steel industry average. However, with that said, Nucor will not internally acknowledge 2023 as a record year in safety, will not celebrate 2023 as a record year because on November 3rd we lost Nucor team member to a workplace accident. Subsequently, on November 9th, we had a company-wide safety stand down. It was a chance to honor our fallen team member and his family, reflect on our most important value, safety. And reinforce that the health, safety and well-being of every Nucor team member is what matters most.
Our team members come to work each and every day to support themselves, their loved ones and they must go home each and every day. That is our greatest responsibility to all 32,000 team members who make up our Nucor family. Every leader inside of Nucor is committed to delivering our mission to become the world's safest steel company and there's no doubt in my mind, we will achieve our goals together.
Nucor is the largest and most diversified steel producer in North America. We pioneered the commercial application of EAF steel-making over 50 years ago, and today we own and operate 30 electric arc furnaces with four more under construction. EAF steel-making and our unique entrepreneurial culture have made us the industry leader. And our current strategy will keep Nucor out in front as we continue to deliver the financial results and capabilities, our investors and customers have come to expect.
Today, Nucor leads the North American steel industry across financial, operational and environmental criteria. Value creation for shareholders through prudent capital deployment is our primary financial objective. Since the beginning of 2020, we have invested over $12 billion in capex and strategic acquisitions to grow our core and expand beyond. During the same time, our average annual ROE has exceeded 30% and our annualized EPS growth rate has exceeded 40%.
In terms of operation, Nucor makes approximately one out of every four tons of steel produced in the United States. We have a highly efficient business model and our unrivaled breadth of products and capabilities serve the widest range of end markets.
Sustainability is a key differentiator for Nucor, and a major part of our growth strategy. We are the largest recycler in the Western Hemisphere and among the lowest in greenhouse gas intensity across global steel-making and we're taking steps to position us even better for the future, supplying customers with the sustainable solutions they've come to expect. That's why we help create the global steel climate council and announced a commitment towards net zero steel-making by 2050 across Scopes I, II and III.
Our business strategy and investments are driving growth for shareholders. In raw materials, we are leveraging our market intelligence and flexible supply chain to provide more sustainable inputs. We're investing in advanced scrap separation technologies and near zero-emission iron-making and we've partnered with ExxonMobil to capture and store up to 800,000 tons of CO2 per year at our Louisiana DRI facility beginning in 2026.
In our steel mills segment, we are shifting the mix toward higher-margin value-added products. We continue to ramp-up Brandenburg, the most capable EAF plate mill in the world. We're constructing a state-of-the-art sheet mill in West Virginia, and we're expanding our rebar micro mill footprint, targeting some of the highest-growth regions in the U.S.
Turning to steel products, we have a strategic advantage on the supply side, given the integration between our mills and steel product teams. We will continue to leverage this advantage, while pursuing more cross-selling in companion tons through our solutions teams and we're investing in automation and technology to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of injuries.
And finally, our expand beyond strategy into steel adjacent platforms is paying-off. We are leveraging our core competencies to grow into higher-margin businesses aligned with steel intensive mega-trends. We're executing this strategy through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, including the construction of two new utility structure production facilities. For 2023, our expand beyond platforms contributed roughly $415 million in EBITDA led by overhead doors and insulated metal panels. We remain confident in hitting our $700 million EBITDA run-rate goal for expand beyond divisions in the coming years.
We believe the American steel industry is still on the front-end of mega-trends working their way into steel markets. We are starting to see some increased activity in certain markets like bridge and highway, semiconductor chip plants, EV factories and renewable energy. And as we've shared before, Nucor expects the federal programs that support these mega-trends to add somewhere between 5 million to 8 million tons of incremental annual demand for steel over the next several years.
While the long-term trends look favorable, we've seen some pockets of slower-than-expected activity, for instance, adoption rates for electric vehicles are tracking lower than some have predicted and several offshore wind projects have been canceled or delayed due to supply chain challenges, as well as higher costs. Warehouse starts are expected to decline again in 2024, but we still expect them to stay above prepandemic levels. And despite some of these near-term headwinds, Nucor remains optimistic about the longer-term prospects for these end markets.
Non-res construction is our largest end market, and it has proven to be incredibly resilient. Some of the strongest growth is coming from the sharp rise in advanced manufacturing and infrastructure investment, both expected to rise double-digits over the next two years according to Dodge construction forecasts. This is helping to offset some of the softness we're seeing for more rate-sensitive sectors which should begin to pick-up later in the year if interest-rate cuts occur as many expect.
Before turning it over to Steve, I'd like to share a few thoughts on how Nucor's business model continues to deliver attractive returns for our shareholders. From 2020 to 2023, we've generated a combined EBITDA over $30 billion, net earnings of nearly $20 billion and returned nearly $10 billion to our shareholders. Throughout it all, we maintain the strongest balance sheet of any North American steel producer, allowing us to grow the company by investing in higher-margin less volatile businesses.
As our results demonstrate, Nucor is a growth company and given our investment plans and the long-term outlook for steel in the U.S., we see more opportunities for growth in the years ahead.
With that, I'll turn it over to Steve, who will share additional details on our financial results and near-term outlook. Steve?
