Steel & Tube Shareholder Newsletter June 2021

SHAREHOLDER
NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2021

Steel & Tube has maintained a solid
performance in the second half of FY21 as we
benefit from the investment we are making
into technology, operational initiatives and an
uplift in economic activity following the Covid
restrictions of the past year.
Our Distribution business continues to go
from strength to strength, after delivering
a doubling of earnings in the first half of
the year (compared to the same period last
year). Residential building remains strong,
commercial building is starting to pick up and
Government and public sector spending is also
expected to increase, with investment into
maintenance of schools and hospitals, work on
Ports and the 3 Waters project.
Our Infrastructure business has a solid
pipeline of work secured through to the
end of the calendar year. We are now seeing
increasing commercial activity as large projects
recommence and move through the planning
process, which bodes well for the future.
The Government has also announced new
infrastructure spend in the latest budget, with
investment into school property and healthcare
assets being of most interest for our business.
The steel industry as a whole has seen a
significant uplift in the global steel price and
raw materials in the last six months. Globally,
there remains pent-up demand driven by
large infrastructure programmes and recovery
from the pandemic. In addition, transport and
logistics chains have also been under pressure
leading to higher container, shipping and other
freight charges. We do not expect these to ease
in the short to medium term.
Our focus has been on working closely with
all suppliers to minimise these impacts for
our customers. As New Zealand’s largest
steel distributor and importer of steel we
are uniquely placed to mitigate these cost
impacts by leveraging our scale. We are
utilising technology to ensure our products
are priced appropriately, whilst retaining our
competitiveness. We have also prioritised
continuity of supply, increasing our inventory
holdings of our more popular items to ensure
we meet our customers’ needs.
Recently we have seen timber industry
organisations advocating strongly for the
Government to implement a Wood-First Policy.
We have serious concerns around the erroneous
claims being made and continue to advocate
that New Zealand needs a range of construction
materials and should not rush into single material
choices that are not grounded in good science
- material choices should be made by the
experts – engineers, architects and designers.
Therefore, along with industry associations
and other businesses, we have responded to a
number of procurement and policy submissions,
highlighting the value of steel as an important,
essential – and sustainable - building material.
You can read more about the value of steel on
the following page.
We continue to monitor our own sustainability
performance and take actions to improve.
The events of this past year reinforced the
importance of taking a long-term view and
establishing policies and business strategies
that look beyond next quarter or year. Our
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
policies and risk management framework
are focussed on protecting our long term
sustainability and future as a dynamic and
successful New Zealand company. We
are seeing some great outcomes from
programmes which support our staff and have
shared some of these stories in this newsletter.
We hope you enjoy the read.
Susan Paterson Chair
Mark Malpass Chief Executive Officer
DEAR SHAREHOLDER
COMPANY UPDATE

The discussion around appropriate construction
material choice continues to heat up with timber
organisations and business owners pushing for a
timber first strategy for Government buildings.
However, the steel industry, including Steel &
Tube, is strongly against a preferential approach
to construction products, saying that material
choices should be driven by designers and
engineers working to robust Construction
Codes and Standards, not politicians.
It is not the use of a single material, be it timber,
steel or concrete, that will lead to reduced
carbon emissions. It is the overall lifetime
carbon emissions of the building. Sometimes
timber will be the right choice. Other times,
steel and concrete will be. More frequently, it
will be a combination of all materials that will
deliver the right outcome.
The construction sector has been asking for
a collaborative approach to ensuring the best
outcome for New Zealand – creating strong
and safe buildings while minimising emissions
and construction waste. We need to consider
not just embodied carbon, but also operating
and maintenance carbon and costs, building
lifetimes, and end of life use. We can’t continue
to trash our buildings to landfill. We must reuse,
repurpose and recycle our valuable materials
and move to a circular economy. That is what
counts and what makes a real difference. It is
also where materials like steel, which has a 72%
recycling rate, stand out.
Timber raises issues of durability and fire hazard.
Some building materials are more combustible
than others and there is a Building Code
requirement in residential structures over 10
metres high to have no flammable materials
in external wall. In addition, timber strength
and dimensional stability issues continue to be
reported with the very young crop timber now
being harvested.
While pine plantations are important to
addressing climate change, pine is a softwood
and needs to be treated before construction
use. The timber treatment standard has been
under review for several years because the
parties can’t agree on a path forward that
provides the required durability and is not
toxic for builders and home owners.
Recently, the NZ Herald identified the
environmental impacts and consequences
of timber waste from construction – it’s not
a pretty picture.
Not least, there is currently a nationwide
shortage of timber – a global issue that
shows no sign of dissipating soon. In the last
18 months, at least six New Zealand timber
processors have gone out of business as they
could not process timber at competitive prices,
due to China setting the price of logs. Timber
prices have risen between 30 and 50% in the
last 12 months. Under a Wood First strategy,
government buildings will be considerably more
expensive and delivery likely to be significantly
delayed till timber is available.
STEEL THE OBVIOUS
CHOICE FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

STEEL FRAMED HOUSING
Steel framed housing is an obvious solution
to assist in rapidly scaling housing supply and
supporting all New Zealanders transition to
a more sustainable economy. Steel framed
housing is a viable alternative and a positive step
towards developing a resilient supply chain that
is not dependent on one material.
Many markets around the world including
Australia, UK and the US already have a
significant proportion of new homes being built
with steel framing
1
. In New Zealand, light steel
frame construction has been available for over
30 years as a viable alternative to light timber
frame construction in one to two story housing.
Whilst some builders in New Zealand have
already adapted and are building steel framed
houses, there remains significant opportunity
for this to become more widely used.
Steel framing and cladding solutions enable
a faster build time and are just as suitable for
creating safe, stylish and desirable residential
homes as they are for commercial buildings. In
addition, internal steel-framed wall solutions
have been a key feature of the New Zealand
market for many years.
STEEL IS A SUSTAINABLE CHOICE
Steel is the material of choice for most of the
world’s major construction markets – in the UK,
steel commands a market share of 70%, in the
US 60% and in NZ it is 50% and gaining. Not only
do the design and quality aspects of steel make
it an obvious choice, it is an environmentally
sustainable solution when considering the
product’s full lifecycle.
Steel & Tube supports New Zealand’s
commitment to reduce emissions to achieve net
zero carbon by 2050 and says consideration of
the full life-cycle impacts of products (“circular
economy principles”) can play an important role
in reducing emissions.
CEO of Steel & Tube, Mark Malpass, says:
“An important element in considering carbon
emissions is the end of life approach, including
the demolition, recycling and waste stages of
building materials. The creation of a circular
economy is not simply focused on the design
and construction process but also considers
the post-construction life cycle stages and the
benefits from materials that can be reused or
recycled, such as steel.
“Steel is infinitely recyclable without product
degradation and is easily reused and
repurposed; it generates minimal construction
waste; and renewable energy sources available
in New Zealand for making steel.
“As an example, construction and demolition
waste makes up 40–50% of New Zealand’s
total waste going to landfill, according to
government and council documents, with an
average of 4 tonnes of waste for each home
constructed
2
. Steel frame housing reduces the
impacts on our environment as fabrication and
manufacturing is carried out from precisely
detailed drawings programmed to machines,
reducing waste to less than 2%.”
1 https://www.scnz.org/steel-construction/advantages-of-steel-construction/ 2 http://www.level.org.nz/material-use/

PROVIDING A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR THE
MOST ESSENTIAL STEEL PRODUCTS – FROM
FLOOR TO ROOF & EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN
FULL SERVICE
PROVIDER
TE WHARE TOROA
RNZAL BASE OHAKEA
Base Ohakea is one of three Royal New
Zealand Air Force air bases in New Zealand,
with the third largest runway in New Zealand
and around 1000 staff. As part of the
New Zealand Defence Force’s Strategy
2025, an Infrastructure Masterplan has been
developed to regenerate Base Ohakea and
its surrounding environs. One of the larger
projects is the construction of a large new
plane hangar, which will span across a space
as large as three football fields.
This is one of the largest and most complex
construction projects recently undertaken
by the Ministry of Defence and New Zealand
Defence Force and, upon completion, will
house the No.5 squadron and four new P-8A
Poseidon aircraft which will arrive during 2023.
Steel & Tube is supplying and placing a
range of products, including 1,800 tonnes
of reinforcing steel, mesh and 11,000m2
of ComFlor Metal Decking. The project is
expected to be completed in the first half of
the 2022 calendar year.
THE PĀ – UNIVERSITY OF
WAIKATO
The Pā at the University of Waikato’s Hamilton
campus will provide a new main entrance, a
student hub and a new University marae.
Steel & Tube was contracted to supply and
place 540 tonnes of reinforcing steel, 7.5
tonnes of mesh and more than 2,400m2 of
ComFlor metal decking.
Work commenced onsite in September
2020 and Steel & Tube’s role in the project is
expected to be completed by August 2021,
with the development planned to open in the
third quarter of 2022.
The Pā is a unique design and incorporates
input from the students, staff and several
advisory groups who each had opportunities
to work with the Architects. Upon
completion, it will contain food outlets and
social spaces as well as a new University
Marae.

MAKING IT EASY
CELEBRATING WITH OUR CUSTOMERS
Steel & Tube has more than 13,000 customers
across New Zealand, ranging from large
infrastructure companies through to small one-
man trade businesses. Building and maintaining
relationships with our customers is an essential
part of what we do every day...and often that
means celebrating with our customers and
thanking them for their custom.
A new Steel & Tube mobile BBQ was
commissioned this year and has already been
taken to a number of customer outings.
One recent event was a breakfast for the
George Grant Engineering (GGE) team in
South Auckland. GGE are specialists in the
fabrication and installation of structural steel
for commercial, industrial, civil construction
and infrastructure projects. Founded in
1990, GGE is a true family business and a
respected player in the steel fabrication and
construction industry.
Steel & Tube supplies GGE with structural
steel, chain & rigging services and profile plate
processing for major New Zealand projects,
with both companies contributing to building
New Zealand together!
DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MAKE IT EASY
FOR OUR CUSTOMERS TO DO BUSINESS WITH US
SOUTH ISLAND AGRICULTURAL FIELD DAYS
The South Island Agricultural Field Days
(SIAFD) is one of the oldest and largest
agricultural events in the South Island, with
record attendance numbers in 2021.
The Steel & Tube team took the opportunity to
promote Hurricane fencing and wire products
to the rural community, with on-site specialists
providing technical expertise...as well as great
coffees! The Hurricane Boundary Fence and
Rapid Posts were the stars of the show,
with much interest shown in these two
new products and vigorous testing by
prospective buyers.
The promotion of the Hurricane brand
alongside Steel & Tube helped to emphasise
our Stronger Together company strategy
and we had great feedback from visitors
to the show.
OPEN ALL HOURS
Steel & Tube is transforming how it delivers
customer excellence with an overall goal of
making it easier for customers to do business
with us. The popularity of our webshops
continue to grow and we are continually
looking at new ways for our customers to
contact us and order the products they
need, at a time that suits them.
Last year we introduced Stanley the
Chatbot, to assist visitors to our website
when they are searching for products,
locations, opening hours and other useful
Steel & Tube information.
Now we are piloting a Live Chat function
outside of operating hours, to allow our
customers to talk to one of Steel & Tube’s
Customer Excellence team members. The
pilot will help us to better understand our
customer’s needs and how we can best
respond to them.
MAKING IT EASY
WITH DIGITAL
Online Customers
Thousands of ecommerce customers
every month, driving revenue and
margin growth.
Webstore
Latest release includes real time stock
availability. Introduced Webstore to
our Roofing client base, building upon
the success with Kainga Ora and our
Distribution business.
Chatbot Stanley
Will be supporting customer requests
for Test Certificates, providing
another innovative way for customers
to access these important services.

INNOVATION &
TECHNOLOGY
USING TECHNOLOGY AND GREAT
THINKING TO PULL IT ALL TOGETHER
AND ENABLE A BETTER BUSINESS
TELEMETRY
DRIVING SAFETY
AND PERFORMANCE
IN OUR FLEET
Steel & Tube’s vehicle fleet is an important
part of our business, with more than 200
vehicles used by our sales staff, account
managers and operational staff across the
country. With a number of older cars in the
fleet, we are now transitioning to newer
vehicles that will deliver multiple safety,
sustainability and efficiency benefits.
In particular, new telemetry technology will
be installed in all our new vehicles, enabling
us to monitor vehicle location, speed and
movement and providing an opportunity to
improve safety for both our drivers and other
people on the road. New vehicles are also
more fuel efficient, and in conjunction with
our optimisation of delivery route planning,
we will emit less carbon from our fleet in
the future.
We have also taken this opportunity to
update the branding on our vehicles with the
Fortress team the first to ‘turn red’ as part of
Steel & Tube’s ‘stronger together’.
A NEW ‘BEST IN CLASS’
HEALTH AND SAFETY
SYSTEM IS BEING
DEPLOYED ACROSS
THE BUSINESS
The Intelex QHSE Software cover all aspects
of Quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental
management in one database. Of particular
value to Steel & Tube, the system is accessible
on mobile devices, which allows key actions
to be completed on the go, without the need
of paper based forms.
The mobile app will not only eliminate a
significant number of paper-based audits,
forms and manual based processes but will
also provide access to live tracking and action
reports. This is an important tool in quickly
reviewing and responding to incidents and
will help site managers, operations teams
and business leaders prioritise the people
and resources needed to focus on the most
important safety risks.
The project is being developed in two phases
with initial rollout anticipated to commence
in August 2021.

WE’RE RED AND WHITE ALL OVER
Stronger Together embodies Steel & Tube’s
strategy to effectively bring our staff and
business units together in pursuit of a common
purpose – and aligns our services, expertise and
products to provide the best possible support
to our customers and partners.
As a part of this philosophy, we are now
moving to more closely link our key heritage
brands – Hurricane, ComFlor and Fortress –
with the Steel & Tube brand. This will help to
create a stronger presence and group position
for Steel & Tube in the market, whilst retaining
the strength of our legacy sub-brands which
our customers know and love.
We are using colour and a consistent style to
link our brands across the group. The first
demonstration of this new brand approach
is in our updated vehicle fleet which is now
hitting the roads, with Hurricane and Fortress
vans and trucks first off the rank.
BETTER WAYS
OF WORKING
ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS
TO WORK SMARTER
A STRONGER SAFER WORKFORCE
Steel & Tube subcontracts the placement of
its reinforcing placing and ComFlor laying
site services to selected strategic partners.
To ensure we meet our health and safety
commitments, we expect all our sub-contract
partners to provide their employees with a
safe and healthy work environment, with every
person returning home safely every day.
After the very successful ‘Stand in the Gap’
safety programme run across Steel & Tube
in 2020, Tuakiri – the providers of Stand in
the Gap – were engaged by Steel & Tube to
present to employees of Ngawaka Group,
which provides pre-fabrication services.
Marsella and Wiremu, the founders of
Tuakiri, delivered a powerful presentation
on leadership and safe workplace practices.
Their programme challenges the audience
to ‘stand in the gap’ – to stand up when they
see safety cuts being taken; and promotes the
message that health and safety is everyone’s
responsibility from leaders down to the newest
staff members. This is one way that Steel &
Tube is working with our partners and going
the extra step to add value to our relationship
with our valued subcontractors.

CONTINUAL LEARNING AN IMPORTANT
PART OF OUR CULTURE
Staying informed and continual learning is essential to ensuring our staff are
able to provide the best technical and product expertise to our customers.
We also encourage continual learning for our specifier community, through
industry sponsorships.
Steel & Tube ComFlor was a gold sponsor of the 2021 New Zealand Society
for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) Annual Technical Conference, which
was attended by Product Manager, Steve Stickland.
The NZSEE brought together practitioners and researchers to reflect on the
lessons learnt over the last 10 years since the Christchurch Earthquake, and
how these learnings are being implemented to leave a positive legacy for
future generations and a more resilient Aotearoa.
Throughout the conference, ComFlor (Steel & Tube’s innovative composite
steel floor decking system) was discussed as a flooring solution. ComFlor
was the dominant flooring system used in the Christchurch rebuild. The
significant evidence from the 2011 earthquakes and research undertaken has
shown that ComFlor facilitates the design of resilient buildings.
ComFlor is used on prestigious construction projects including offices,
hotels, retail centres, hospitals, car parks, residences and warehouses.
BUILDING ONE GREAT TEAM
RIGHT ACROSS THE STEEL &
TUBE BUSINESS
THE IMPORTANCE OF
DIVERSITY
Equality and diversity are cornerstones of
Steel & Tube’s organisational culture and we
believe that diversity provides us with a broad
range of perspectives and experience that
enhance our business.
A group of Steel & Tube staff and guests
recently attended the M2woman Journey to
Excellence event, which featured keynote
speakers and an inspiring panel discussing the
challenges and solutions in the everchanging
New Zealand workplace. A particular focus
was on diversity and the value it can bring, to
not only business culture but also a business’s
bottom line.
In particular, speakers pointed out that the
most value to a business is from diverse
thinking (neuro diversity) and that’s more
likely if you employ a range of people from
different backgrounds and life pathways.
Logically, they will have been exposed to
different opportunities and challenges and
will bring alternative views and thinking to the
business.
Steel & Tube is committed to a diverse and
inclusive workforce and ensuring we have an
environment where everyone can succeed.
We believe that our differences provide
greater value and stronger outcomes than
just single dimension thinking.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
GRACE CAMPBELL ,
People & Culture Business Partner
Grace Campbell graduated this month with an
Executive Master of Business Administration
(MBA) from Te Herenga Waka – Victoria
University of Wellington. Grace did an
incredible job of completing all the papers
over two years while still working full time.
Steel & Tube was pleased to provide financial
support as well as time off to study and sees
this as an important way to add value for both
Grace and to our company.
ONE TEAM

Steel & Tube has recently launched its new
Kura Takoha programme to help employees
and their families with all the added costs
of education, particularly at Back to School
time. The programme helps by contributing
towards things like stationery, uniforms, fees
and technology for learning.
OUR COMMUNITIES
We’ve been delighted to be able
to help a number of our Steel &
Tube families during what can be a
challenging time at the start of the
school year. It’s part of our culture
to support not just our employees,
but also their families, with education
programmes like Kura Takoha, the
First Foundation and our career
development partnerships
.

Anna Morris, People & Culture
KURA TAKOHA - BACK TO SCHOOL

STRONGER
TOGETHER
THANK YOU
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CONTACT US:
Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd
7 Bruce Roderick Drive, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013, New Zealand
PO Box 58880, Botany, Auckland 2163, New Zealand
Tel: +64 4 570 5000 Email: investor.relations@steelandtube.co.nz
www.steelandtube.co.nz