2004 ANNUAL REPORT

TO OUR STOCKHOLDERS
6
When you’re in a global cyclical business with such dramatic highs and lows as the steel
industry, it’s easy to lose focus. Successful companies concentrate on the things they can control.
During the recent trough in the steel industry cycle, Nucor’s management focused on key
success factors: lowering costs, boosting productivity and improving existing facilities. Nucor
made significant investments in greenfield operations in the late 1990s and the start of this
decade, investments that would take time to become significant, consistent contributors to
Nucor’s profits.
We’re now starting to see the pay-off while enjoying the results of one other critical element
of management’s efforts the past few years: strategic acquisitions. More than half of Nucor’s
bar mills have become part of the company since 2000. We have also acquired major sheet
and plate operations, as well as a variety of new technologies with high growth potential.
It’s not hard to make acquisitions; it is challenging to integrate them successfully. Nucor has developed the capacity to effectively
integrate new operations into its culture, optimizing the acquired facilities’ operations far beyond old standards.
Management continued in 2004 to focus on critical factors it could control. In response to historic changes in raw materials costs,
Nucor implemented an appropriate pricing strategy. Meanwhile, the company made significant progress in several ventures to
develop new technologies that will give Nucor improved quality and control of its raw materials supply, driving the next phase of
success regardless of where we are in the steel industry cycle.
The board of directors congratulates Dan DiMicco and the entire Nucor team of 10,600 employees for the record-breaking
year and, most importantly, for their hard work and critical strategic initiatives in those challenging years preceding 2004.
As a consequence, the board was pleased to approve management’s recommendation that Nucor’s hard working employees receive
two special cash bonuses of $1,000 each in July and November, in addition to their regular profit-sharing payments, as a way of
recognizing everyone’s dedication and extraordinary efforts.
Sincerely,
Peter C. Browning
Non-Executive Chairman
Peter C. Browning
Non-Executive Chairman
®
It’s Our Nature.