Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROCK), a leading manufacturer, processor, and distributor of products for the building, industrial, and vehicular markets, today reported significantly higher income and operating margins for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009 compared to the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, largely the result of its cumulative restructuring activities.

In spite of a very weak auto market, second-quarter sales increased 6% to $217 million, compared to the first quarter of 2009, as business conditions stabilized or improved in many of the building product markets. On the sequential sales increase of $12 million, operating income increased by $28 million to $10.3 million in the second quarter of 2009 from an operating loss of $17.7 million in the first quarter of 2009. Income before taxes also increased $28 million to $4.6 million in the second quarter of 2009 from a loss before tax of $23.7 million in the first quarter of 2009. The second-quarter 2009 results from continuing operations improved significantly to a net loss of $0.6 million, a $0.02 loss per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $12.5 million, or a $0.42 loss per diluted share, in the preceding quarter, excluding an impairment charge.

In the first six months of 2009, sales were $422 million, a decrease of 34% compared to the first half of 2008, driven by large unit-volume declines resulting from sharply weaker end markets. The loss from continuing operations in the first six months of 2009 was $13.1 million, a $0.43 loss per diluted share, excluding an impairment charge. The Company incurred an after-tax non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $15.1 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, during the three months ended March 31, 2009. The sum of the items above resulted in a loss per diluted share of $0.93 for the first half of 2009, compared to income of $0.83 per diluted share for the first half of 2008.

“The many steps we have taken to aggressively cut costs through the restructuring of our business, further reduce our working capital, and conserve cash to pay down debt – together with a much smaller FIFO impact on our cost of sales as steel prices stabilized and a modest six percent increase in sales – generated a strong sequential improvement in earnings in the second quarter,” said Brian J. Lipke, Gibraltar’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our second-quarter results demonstrate how we have structurally changed the business, permanently lowered our cost structure, and reduced our breakeven point. Those actions have set the stage for an improved performance in the current operating environment and significantly improved results as we begin to see incremental improvements in volumes.”

The Company continued to streamline its operations, closing another three locations in the second quarter, and it has now reduced its number of facilities by 36%, or 32 facilities, to 56 locations since the beginning of 2007. It also decreased its number of active employees by 33% during the past 18 months. Additionally, the Company has continued to reduce its working capital in the first half of 2009 by $47 million, or 21%, which contributed to generating cash from operating activities of $65 million in the first half of 2009 compared to $62 million in the same period of 2008. The cash generated from operating activities has largely been used to repay its debt by another $24 million, or 7%, in the second quarter of 2009 and by $51 million, or 14%, since the beginning of 2009.

On July 27, the Company announced that it completed an amendment of its senior credit agreement. Under the terms of the amendment, the existing syndicate of lenders agreed to provide Gibraltar with a revolving credit facility of $200 million in commitments and a term loan of $58.7 million. At June 30, 2009, the Company had outstanding borrowings of $40.0 million on its revolving credit facility. The Company expects these facilities to provide it the liquidity to successfully operate through this global downturn and the flexibility to fund organic growth and potential future acquisitions.

“We believe our markets have found the bottom and we look forward to a slight improvement in the second half of the year, albeit at sales levels well below a year ago,” said Henning N. Kornbrekke, Gibraltar’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “We are beginning to see some positive signs in many of our end markets. Housing starts improved in each month of the second quarter, the repair and remodel markets are steady, and the auto build should be stronger in the second half of the year. We also expect to benefit from a number of new products we are introducing and market share gains in both the residential and commercial building businesses, as well as a smaller FIFO impact due to balanced inventory positions amid escalating steel prices.

“Even though we have made great progress, we will continue to relentlessly attack costs and steadily reduce our SG&A expenses. We are also continuing to strategically realign our businesses, to ensure that we fully capture all of the available operational and marketing synergies. We are continuing to focus on working capital turns, which should allow us to continue to lower our debt in the second half of 2009,” said Mr. Kornbrekke.

“All of the steps we are taking have positioned Gibraltar to achieve profitability in the current operating environment and are also key parts of our strategy to be the low-cost producer of our products on a global basis, and they are solidifying the foundation we are building for record-setting performance once economic and end-market conditions start to improve,” added Mr. Lipke.

Gibraltar has scheduled a conference call to review its results for the second quarter of 2009 tomorrow, August 6, 2009, starting at 9:00 am ET. A link to the call can be accessed on Gibraltar’s Web site, at http://www.gibraltar1.com. The presentation slides that will be discussed during the call are expected to be available on Wednesday, August 5, by 6:00 p.m. ET. The slides may be downloaded from the Conference Calls page of the Investor Info section of the Gibraltar Web site: http://www.gibraltar1.com/investors/index.cfm?page=48. If you are not able to participate in the call, you may listen to a replay or review a copy of the prepared remarks via the link above. Both will be available on the Gibraltar Web site shortly following the call. The conference call replay link, presentation slides, and prepared remarks will remain on the Gibraltar Web site for one year.

Gibraltar Industries serves customers in a variety of industries in all 50 states and throughout the world. It has approximately 2,600 employees and operates 56 facilities in 23 states, Canada, England, Germany, and Poland. Gibraltar’s common stock is a component of the S&P SmallCap 600 and the Russell 2000® Index.

Information contained in this release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and may be subject to a number of risk factors and uncertainties. Risk factors that could affect these statement include, but are not limited to, the following: the availability of raw materials and the effects of changing raw material prices on the Company’s results of operations; energy prices and usage; changing demand for the Company’s products and services; changes in the liquidity of the capital and credit markets; risks associated with the integration of acquisitions; and changes in interest or tax rates. In addition, such forward-looking statements could also be affected by general industry and market conditions, as well as general economic and political conditions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law or regulation.

*Includes a $25.5 million goodwill impairment charge during the six months ended June 30, 2009.