Friedman Industries Inc (FRD) SEC Filing 10-K Annual Report for the fiscal year ending Thursday, March 31, 2022

Exhibit 99.1

July 22, 2022

Dateline: Longview, Texas

Friedman Industries, Incorporated (NYSE – American; trading symbol: FRD)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRIEDMAN INDUSTRIES, INCORPORTATED ANNOUNCES FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL YEAR 2022 RESULTS AND PROVIDES POST PLATEPLUS TRANSACTION UPDATE

FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL YEAR 2022 RESULTS

The Company announced today its results of operations for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2022. For the quarter ended March 31, 2022 (the “2022 quarter”), the Company recorded a net loss of $7,461,256 ($1.11 diluted loss per share) on sales of $75,091,475 compared to net earnings of $10,403,597 ($1.50 diluted earnings per share) on net sales of $49,214,204 for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (the “2021 quarter”). The 2022 quarter results were negatively impacted by margin compression associated with declining steel prices at the time and a net recognized loss of approximately $13.9 million related to hot-rolled coil derivative instruments. Results for the 2021 quarter were positively impacted by strong margins primarily associated with a historic rise in steel prices and a net recognized gain of approximately $5.5 million related to hot-rolled coil derivative instruments.

For the year ended March 31, 2022 (“fiscal 2022”), the Company recorded net earnings of $14,066,322 ($2.04 diluted earnings per share) on sales of $285,234,752. For the year ended March 31, 2021 (“fiscal 2021”), the Company recorded net earnings of $11,424,475 ($1.63 diluted earnings per share) on sales of $126,102,533. The combined earnings of fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021 is higher than any other consecutive two years in Company history.

Our operating results are significantly impacted by the market price of hot-rolled steel coil. The Company experienced significant volatility in steel price during both fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021. The start of fiscal 2021 coincided with the COVID-19 virus starting to have a broad impact across the United States. From March 2020 to August 2020 steel prices declined approximately 25% in response to the initial impacts of COVID-19 on steel industry demand. In August 2020, steel prices began a historic rise, increasing approximately 350% through September 2021. From October 2021 through February 2022, steel prices declined approximately 50% until starting to increase in March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  With the volatility of steel prices, the Company saw periods of both expanding and contracting margins in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021. The overall results for both years is characterized by higher than average margins with fiscal 2022 being the most profitable year in Company history and fiscal 2021 being the third most profitable year.