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ROLL 2009 On A Great American Steel Company ANNUAL REPORT AND FORM 10-K 2009 At AK Steel, we continued to “ROLL On” in 2009 by Remaining focused ROLL on our key values in order to Outperform the expectations of our customers On and shareholders, Lower our costs and Lift (or grow) our cash position. Simply put, our objective is to be the best In addition, our employees at in the world in those three categories. Middletown Works, Zanesville Works While the recession took its toll on and AK Tube in Walbridge, Ohio James L. Wainscott operating levels across the industry in received several safety awards from the Chairman, President and 2009, we took steps at AK Steel to Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Chief Executive Officer prepare for an eventual increase in Division of Safety and Hygiene in 2009. productivity. And, at the same time, we And, both of our AK Tube plants were remained at the top of our game in terms recognized in 2009 by the Fabricators & AK Steel finished the year 2009 in of employee safety and product quality. Manufacturers Association, International for strong fashion, and that is a credit to their outstanding safety performance. all of our employees who responded to Safety First, First In Safety the challenges of one of the most severe Safety is our highest priority at AK Steel, economic downturns in our country’s history. and our 2009 safety performance was Despite the “Great Recession” of 2009, about eight times better than the steel we continued to move in the right direction industry average. As a result of our and sequentially improved our results each unwavering commitment to safety, the quarter throughout the year. company earned significant recognition Thanks to the hard work and dedication from industry trade associations and AK Tube LLC in Columbus, Indiana was of the men and women at AK Steel, the government agencies in 2009. re-certified for having safety programs that exceed OSHA requirements. company got back in the black during For the fifth consecutive year, AK Steel’s the third quarter of 2009 and recorded Ashland coke plant received the Max an operating profit of $64 per ton in the Eward Safety Award from the American Of special note, AK Tube in Columbus, fourth quarter of 2009. Our full-year 2009 Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute. The Indiana became re-certified as a Star site revenues reached approximately $4.1 award recognized the men and women in the Department of Labor’s Voluntary billion on shipments of 3.9 million tons at the plant for operating the safest Protection Program in 2009. The Star at an average selling price of $1,036 cokemaking facility in America in 2009. designation signifies that the plant’s safety per ton. In fact, our employees at the plant worked programs go above and beyond OSHA the entire year of 2009 without any OSHA requirements. The “Three C’s” recordable injuries. That is an outstanding All told, we set a new company safety From the onset of the recession, when it accomplishment, and the recognition record of only 15 OSHA recordable was impossible to see any improvement marks the 12th time in injuries in 2009. While that is the best on the horizon, our vision remained clear. the past 13 years we have ever done, the goal must always We acted quickly and prudently in 2009, that an AK Steel be zero. And, I am proud to say that re-emphasizing our “Three C’s” program that coke plant employees at three of our operations continues to serve the company extremely has received actually delivered zeros in 2009. In well—a program that is entirely focused on this award. addition to the men and women at our serving Customers better than anyone else, Ashland coke plant, employees at our reducing Costs and conserving Cash. Max Eward Rockport and Zanesville Works also Safety Award Winner In addition to the “Three C’s,” we were worked the entire year of 2009 without a able to weather the economic storm of For the 12th time in the past 13 years, an single OSHA recordable injury. That is a 2009 by remaining focused on our key AK Steel coke plant earned the industry’s terrific job by everyone at each of those highest award for safety. values of safety, quality and productivity. locations. holding 52 million tons of hot metal during Cut Costs, Conserved Cash its lifetime. The new hearth will help the With the difficult market conditions in blast furnace remain among the most 2009, we intensified our efforts to reduce productive in the world, for its size, costs and conserve cash throughout as market conditions return to normal. the year. We temporarily idled certain We also took advantage of another operations and, for most of 2009, opportunity in 2009 to enhance AK Steel’s reduced pay for all salaried employees, competitiveness in the future. By forging including myself, our Executive Officers, a long-term agreement to purchase as well as for the members of our Board metallurgical-grade coke and electricity of Directors. We also modified our from SunCoke Energy’s Haverhill, Ohio salaried benefit plans and offered an early Carbon and specialty steel customers rated AK Steel number one in customer satisfaction, plant, we were able to help insulate retirement program to qualified salaried quality and delivery, according to independent surveys by Jacobson and Associates. AK Steel from volatile, world-market prices employees throughout the company. These for raw materials and energy. initiatives helped us end the year 2009 Quality Performance with a solid cash balance of $462 million. The year 2009 was also one of the company’s best years ever in quality. 129% Ready For Recovery According to independent customer surveys stock price appreciation Thanks to all of the progress that we have conducted by Jacobson and Associates, our in 2009 made since the fall of 2003, AK Steel carbon and specialty steel customers rated was well-positioned to survive the “Great AK Steel number one in overall customer Recession” of 2009, capitalize on the satisfaction, quality and delivery for the Enhanced Shareholder Value chaos and emerge as a stronger company. year 2009. At AK Steel, we strive to enhance Our management team has an excellent In addition, AREVA, one of the world’s shareholder value in all that we do. Although track record of overcoming adversity, and leading producers of electricity transmission challenged by the global economic that experience will continue to serve the and distribution products, named AK Steel downturn in 2009, we did not dilute our company exceptionally well as we head to its prestigious list of certified suppliers in shareholders’ interests by issuing additional into the new decade. 2009. We also received high praise from stock. In fact, investors saw the value of their In addition, AK Steel is well-served by its Toyota in 2009 for quality performance AK Steel shares increase by approximately outstanding Board of Directors, including and supplier diversity achievement, and 129 percent in 2009. From 2003 through Robert H. Jenkins (Lead Director), Richard we were named a “Supplier of the Year” the end of 2009, the company’s stock value A. Abdoo, John S. Brinzo, Dennis C. by two of our valued customers—Berg grew by about 1,000 percent. And, thanks Cuneo, William K. Gerber, Dr. Bonnie G. Steel and Kenwal Steel. to our strong balance sheet, we continued Hill, Ralph S. (“Mike”) Michael III, Shirley Our research group also earned some to reward our shareholders in 2009 by D. Peterson and Dr. James A. Thomson. well-deserved recognition in 2009 when maintaining a quarterly dividend throughout Their experience is a tremendous asset they received the 42nd Annual Outstanding the year. to AK Steel, and I would like to take this Author Award from the Galvanizers We also repurchased more than 1.6 opportunity to thank each of them for their Association. The award was presented in million shares of AK Steel’s common stock in strong support and leadership in 2009. connection with a technical paper on the 2009 at an average price of $6.13 per AK Steel continued to “ROLL On” in subject of “Furnace Atmosphere Monitoring share. In addition, we further deleveraged 2009, and we are “READY for Recovery” at AK Steel’s Coating Lines.” This marked our balance sheet in 2009 by repurchasing in 2010. Our goal is to: the 10th time that AK Steel has received $26.4 million of our 7 ¾ percent senior Remain focused on our key values, this outstanding recognition. notes. We also contributed $210 million to Execute with world-class precision, our pension trust fund in 2009. From 2005 Aggressively control our costs, Productivity and Competitiveness to the end of 2009, we contributed more Deliver shareholder value and produce On the productivity front, we turned a than $1 billion to the pension fund. And, we Year-long continuous improvement. negative into a positive in 2009. As our made a $65 million contribution to the operating levels began to sharply decline Middletown Retirees’ Voluntary Employees due to the recession, we took advantage of Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust in 2009. the situation by replacing the blast furnace At the end of 2009, our net debt, which hearth at Middletown Works. The old reflects our total debt minus our cash hearth had been in service since 1984, balance, was less than $150 million. CORPORATE OFFICE AK Steel Corporation 9227 Centre Pointe Drive West Chester, OH 45069 1-513-425-5000 TRANSFER AGENT AND REGISTRAR Computershare Investor Services, LLC is the company’s stock transfer agent and registrar, and maintains the stockholder accounting records.

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