Good morning and welcome to Worthington Industries' first quarter earnings results conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would like to introduce Miss Cathy Little, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Miss Little, you may begin.

Thank you and good morning, everyone and welcome to our quarterly earnings conference call. Before we get started, I want to remind you that certain statements made in this conference call are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those suggested. Please refer to the news release for more detail on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. For those who are interested in listening to the call again, a replay will be available on our website, worthingtonindustries.com. On the call today are John McConnell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; George Stoe, President and Chief Operating Officer; Andy Rose, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Bob McMaster, Senior Financial Advisor; and Richard Welch, Controller. John McConnell will start us off. John.

Thank you, Cathy. Welcome to all of you participating and those of you listening this morning. All things considered, we believe we had a good solid quarter and we continue to feel very good about our operating performance throughout this period of historically low volumes. I will now turn the call over to Andy Rose, our Chief Financial Officer, and George Stoe, our Chief Operating Officer.

Thanks, John. Our first quarter of fiscal 2010 ended on August 31st with earnings of $0.08 a share. While we saw some improvement from the previous quarter, we were down substantially from last year’s record first quarter. Net earnings decreased $62 million from the prior year first quarter to $7 million. Net sales fell $496 million from the prior year to $418 million. Lower volumes in all business segments accounted for $364 million of the sales decline, most notably in metal framing and steel processing, where demand declined dramatically in the construction and automotive sectors. Average selling prices also declined from the prior year due to falling steel prices, accounting for $132 million of the year-over-year decline in sales. Gross margin declined $103 million from the prior year, primarily as a result of the lower volumes experienced in all of our business segments. SG&A expense was down $13 million from the prior year, due to reduced compensation expense resulting from headcount reductions and decreased profit sharing, which declined on lower earnings. In addition, we temporarily reduced pay and suspended our 401K match. As of quarter end, we have reinstated normal pay rates and the 401K match. Restructuring charges were $4 million compared to $9 million in the prior year. The majority of these charges were related to facility closures in our metal framing segment, one of which George Stoe will elaborate on in his comments. Interest expense declined $3 million from the prior year due to lower average short-term borrowings and the repurchase of long-term notes completed in June. Equity and net income of unconsolidated affiliates of $16 million declined $9 million from the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Wave equity earnings of $16 million declined 27% from last year’s first quarter. Income tax expense was down $27 million due…

Thank you, Andy. We saw volume improvements during our first fiscal quarter in our steel business. The cash for clunkers program helped to fuel some of this increased demand but we also saw some strengthening in appliance, agriculture, and some specific improvements in construction. It is important to note that although we have seen some improvement in demand, we are still significantly off prior year volume levels. During the second calendar quarter of 2009, the mills were running at a combined rate of 38% of capacity. The extremely low inventory levels in the marketplace, coupled with the modest improvements in demand, have resulted in the mills bringing some capacity back online. Our view of the mills operating rates in the fourth calendar quarter is 64%. This inventory replenishing and improved demand have also led to substantial increases in the price for flat rolled products. Time will tell if the increased demand continues and if the mills brought back too much capacity too quickly. Our view is the November through December timeframe will represent a significant challenge. The commercial construction market continues to be very weak. What work that is available is highly competitive. Our focus remains on maintaining market share while aligning our costs and keeping with the current market realities. During last quarter’s call, we told you that our goal was to have this business remain cash flow neutral. We have done an outstanding job of meeting that objective. Last week we announced a consolidation of our Joliet, Illinois facility into our Hammond, Indiana operation. We will continue to adjust where necessary to maintain our objectives. Our pressure cylinders business remains robust, especially in North America. Conversely, we are experiencing considerable volume pressure throughout our European cylinder operations. We continue to seek investment opportunities within this segment. Our recent…

Andy and George, thank you. As I said in the opening, we are proud of our first quarter performance and we are proud of our people and their passion to improve. We continue to drive increased operating efficiencies and lower cost in all of our businesses. We also took several actions during the quarter to improve our position going forward. We made two acquisitions during the quarter of giving our cylinder business new market opportunities and we opened a new steel processing facility in Monterey, Mexico, providing our [inaudible] joint venture access to this growing region. And we announced Pro Stud Framing System into the metal framing market. This new product, co-developed with Clark Western, provides the benefits of greater strength and lighter weight of our ultra steel product but without dimpling the material which frankly some customers simply didn’t like. In the short run, we expect to see a traditional slowing of our markets in late November and bottoming in December. We are optimistic, however, that coming out in the opening months of 2010, we will see small but consistent gains in market demand month over month. We will be happy to answer any questions you have at this time.

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Mr. Richard Arch at Torino. Your line is open.

A couple of questions -- number one, just looking at the steel business, it looks like there was a good improvement on costs there, which translated into higher margin per ton. Was that mainly operational efficiencies from the transformation plan or was there any mix or price differences which helped improve those?

It largely comes from the work of the last year-and-a-half in our transformational efforts and improving efficiencies. The rework of how we go about getting our jobs done here in the steel company reflects probably a 10% decrease in permanent employment needs going forward due to those efficiencies, so that was a large part of it. Andy, do you have any other color or --

No, I think that covers it, John.

Great, okay. And also in terms of demand, you mentioned a little bit about commercial construction remaining weak. Any other color on any of the other end markets beside the autos?

I think not beyond what we said already.

Okay. And then finally I just wondered if you could talk a little bit about the SCI acquisition, which should be closing soon, and that should probably be reflected in the next quarter. How do those products compare to the existing product line? And also in relation to the Piper acquisition, maybe compare how those two will impact the business going forward?

George is going to largely answer this but again, as I just said, the good part for us these are new markets for us and new opportunities. As you know, someone who does an excellent job of looking for operating efficiencies and effectively penetrating markets.

I think the best thing to say about the SCI acquisition is it’s really a new product line for us, the fact that it is pressure cylinders that are carbon fiber wound, that are lightweight that are used for a variety of applications. Some of the things that would be in aerospace where they are used to hold oxygen in airplanes, also to propel emergency slides in airplanes. Another application is also breathing apparatus, lightweight breathing apparatus for firefighters so they are not carrying a heavy pack around with them. And on the Piper acquisition, that is primarily aluminum products and medical oxygen is one of the products that they are involved in. They also make paintball cylinders. And then there’s a whole series of other non-cylinder type products that they make at that facility, small extruded products that are used for a variety of things.

And one addition on SCI is the potential for propane or natural gas to be used as the alternative fuel in cars. They are one of the leading manufacturers of tanks in that application at the moment, so to the degree those fuels are the ones that kind of win the day in the emissions race, then we will be a beneficiary to that as well.

Thank you.

Just as a side note, that acquisition is closed.

Okay. Thanks a lot, guys.

Luke Folta of Longbow Research.

First question on the Piper acquisition -- are you able to quantify for us what the impact was on the first fiscal quarter, from a profitability standpoint?

The first fiscal quarter, it probably contributed a slight loss. It would be less than $1 million, although I don’t have the exact number in front of me.

Okay, and then as I recall, you exited the quarter profitable in that business -- is that correct?

The cylinder business in home?

The Piper business.

That by the end of the quarter is sort of what we believe would be the inflection point for that business, where it does turn into a profitable business for us.

Okay, and on the steel processing side, were there any FIFO gains to speak in the first quarter?

We don’t have an exact number for you, Luke. I will tell you that it had a limited impact on the quarter. You know, because of our -- the timing of our quarter and the inflection point was actually just in the middle, right around the July timeframe, so we had some FIFO losses earlier in the quarter and we had some FIFO gains in the end of the quarter and the net effect is not significant, we don’t believe.

Okay, and just regarding steel availability, have you -- has there been any improvement recently in the availability for [inaudible] product, particularly on the value-added side, with some of the capacity coming online?

We expect that it will but I’d say it hasn’t really shown up yet. The mills continue to work to catch up to a variety of different types of materials that are needed but it certainly will increase availability probably over the next month.

Okay, and just one final one, if I could, guys, is just the whole China situation with import spreads seem fairly attractive at this point. Do you think that that’s a -- are you starting to see any offers increase or do you think this will be something that impacts the North American market at some point in the near future?

It’s something we continue to watch and monitor. Of course, a lot of the products we use still have restrictions on them coming into North America, so -- but we will continue to keep an eye on it and you will probably see it in different products other than ours in steel consumption in the United States.

Okay, well, thanks a lot guys and good luck [inaudible].

Your next question comes from Mr. Charles Bradford, Affiliated Research Group. Your line is open?

Good morning. What are you seeing on flat rolled steel pricing these days? [We are] hearing a number of stories very recently about the lead times actually coming down some and prices beginning to keel over. What are you seeing?

I would say that that’s -- we don’t see the price of steel dropping dramatically in any sense of the word at this point. Where we see tightness in the market, it remains in more the specialty grades that we deal in quite heavily and some grades, as you said, are loosening up at this point.

The comment, your previous comment about the mills beginning to catch up -- would that be more of the integrated mills or the minis?

I believe it is both.

Thank you.

Chris [Haverland], Davenport & Company. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: I wanted to see with all the restructuring in the metal framing segment what the operating rate was in the fiscal first quarter.

That’s a number we don’t have handy at the moment. We might have it here in a couple of minutes. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay, well I’ll move on, I have a couple of others here -- in the past, you all have talked about substitution to wood from steel in the metal framing segment and given recent relative price improvement in steel prices, I just wanted to see what you all are seeing there.

Well, I would say that at the moment, it’s much the same view that we portrayed in the past -- anything under four stories typically is going to wood at this point because the price differentials. Of course generally there’s just not a lot being built right now. We continue to look at ways to improve the efficiencies of our system to help offset those price differences but right now, that would still be the case in anything under four stories. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay. Looking at the quarter to quarter improvement in the Wave JV, can you just talk about what might have happened there that caused JV income to nearly double from the fiscal fourth quarter?

This has always been a stellar performing unit. They certainly exceeded what their expectations were for the quarter as well. I’m not aware of any particular incident or any particular [inaudible] to tell you why they were strong other than they are very good at what they do. George, do you have any other insights?

I would add to that that obviously their business is made up -- a significant portion of their business is really remodel rather than new construction, so that certainly helps them going forward and they’ve -- I mentioned in my comments one of the things that they have been really stellar at is margin management and buying steel, operating efficiently and effectively and turning that into significant profit. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay, and then one final question here -- Andy, in your comments I think you had said that in the steel processing segment, you saw market demand increase rapidly in the second half of the fiscal Q1 and I just wanted to see if that has been sustained into -- that demand level has been sustained into September and kind of what your feeling is going into October before you should get a seasonal downturn in November.

Order books are pretty good to the timeframe you mentioned. November of course is out there a little bit but definitely sees a fall-off and December, we wouldn’t expect to be booking up too much right now. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay. But is it fair to assume that you are sustaining those operating rates into the September/October timeframe?

Yes. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay. All right, that’s it. Thank you.

Mark Parr, Keybanc Capital Markets.

This is Phil for Mark. I just have a couple of questions to ask you, kind of on the heels of the last question, can you give us any sense of the month-to-month progression in the steel processing volumes, meaning June, July, August, what type of numbers we are looking at?

You saw a strengthening throughout that period of time that is holding pretty steady again in through the October timeframe and then it starts to fall off and again it’s kind of early in those booking months, so we’ll see how they develop.

Okay. I was just looking for any clarity you could give me on a number in those months, but okay. And also in the Wave, should we be looking for a similar performance sequentially in that business?

I do not know what their forecast is going forward.

I think they believe that volumes are going to come down some again but not nearly to the extent that we are seeing in the metal framing side, so I think they are looking at volumes being down in the 10% to 15% range.

Perfect. Thanks, guys.

Your next question comes from [Chyan Gochon] of Citadel Investment Group.

Two questions -- first in your -- in the steel processing business, what percentage of the current quarter’s order book would you say is direct automotive business?

I think it’s about 50%.

Okay. And the second question is in the metal framing business, can you give us some more color on what you are seeing in the backlog trends and also your release mentioned a competitive pricing -- are you fully being able to recoup changes in galvanized costs or could you see the potential for some margin compression in the next couple of quarters?

Generally in the overall direct selling in the marketplace, I think margins are holding fairly well. They’ve come down maybe a skooch but not much. Do you have any other color you want to throw in with that? I mean, we have been very clear -- we see volumes in commercial construction likely to continue to deteriorate over time. We are not looking for a huge rebound here in 2010 by any stretch of the imagination.

Okay. Thank you.

Luke Folta of Longbow Research.

I just had a quick follow-up -- we spoke before regarding your metal framing business and you had said that you had some success imposing some higher standards regarding quality on the dry wall side of the business and that’s had some positive impact on industry pricing and that the thought would be that you would be able to also have some success here on the structural side. Can you give us an update on your progress there?

I think that we’ve got that backwards -- it’s really we had success initially on the structural side in driving compliance into the marketplace and I think that the major competitors we have have all embraced that philosophy and I think that we’ve done a good job with that. I think the next goal is on the dry wall side and I think that we expect to get similar success in that arena as well.

Okay, great. Thanks a lot.

In response to one of the questions earlier about capacity utilization in metal framing, there’s a couple of different ways to look at it. If you look at the business on a 24-7 basis, we think it’s been sort of 30% to 40% range, in terms of capacity utilization.

Your next question comes from Chris Haverland, Davenport & Company. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: I have a quick follow-up here. Last quarter you all had talked about, in the metal framing segment, a competitor increasing prices and I just wanted to see if that price increase stuck and were more announced, and if you can just kind of give us any color about pricing trends in this segment.

I think as John mentioned earlier, the pricing in that product line has not been the problem. It’s really been volume. I think that the reality of steel prices going up, everybody is following suit and trying to push those prices into the marketplace and I think we’ve been reasonably successful in keeping pace with the increased prices of steel going forward. Chris Haverland - Davenport & Company: Okay, thank you.

Tony Rizzuto, Dalman Rose & Company. Tony Rizzuto - Dalman Rose & Company: Thank you very much. I kind of joined the call a little bit late but did you guys discuss the prospects for hot rolled and cold rolled steel, and what you are seeing in terms of pricing right now?

It’s been brought up a couple of different times. I think what we haven’t seen is the mills back off their announced pricing and as George said in his comments, they’ve brought on more capacity, we’ll see where demand drives them to and then the calendar side of that question is what kind of discipline the mills maintain amongst their other competitors and whether they hold prices up regardless of demand. Tony Rizzuto - Dalman Rose & Company: Okay.

Tony, it’s good to hear from you. Tony Rizzuto - Dalman Rose & Company: Yes, George. Can you guys talk -- where are the current -- where do you see the spot market right now as you look at the flat rolled prices?

I would say that it’s generally $550 to $600 a ton is generally the numbers that are out there. Tony Rizzuto - Dalman Rose & Company: All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

(Operator Instructions) I currently have no questions queued up.

Okay. Thank you, everybody for joining us this morning. We will continue to drive greater efficiencies and continue to take out costs and find new markets that we can continue to sell products into that we have as well as looking for products that we can acquire to come into the fold at Worthington. We will look forward to talking to you next quarter.