DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA / ACCESS Newswire / March 3, 2026 / Headwall Partners LLC ("Headwall"), an independent investment banking firm focused on the steel, metals, and mining industries, today announced the publication of its tenth annual Headwall Partners Steel & Metals Outlook Survey. Headwall's annual survey examines the perspectives of corporate leaders of the North American steel and metals industry regarding their outlook for sources and rates of sector growth and the impact of economic policy and politics on such growth.

Peter J. Scott, Founder and Managing Partner of Headwall Partners commented, "Headwall Partners is very appreciative of the nearly 40 CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives that complete our survey each year, and thereby make the information in our annual survey accurate and more useful to our more than 1000 readers."

Headwall conducted a detailed survey of sector executives at the Chairman, CEO, CFO, and Head of Strategic Planning level, to assess how management teams in the metals industry are pursuing growth. The participating companies represent a broad spectrum of the industry's subsectors, company sizes, geographies, and ownership structures. Sample survey results include:

• 69% of respondents think the new economic policies of the Trump Administration had strongly positive or positive impact on 2025 GDP growth, and 64% of respondents believe that the impact of Trump Administration tariffs on their companies' sales was strongly positive or positive

• 34% of respondents expect to implement wage increases in order to retain and attract workforce talent, with 29% expecting to address workforce availability with automation

• AI implementation is split almost equally among various functions and departments with maintenance / predictive analytics, finance / forecasting, and sales making up the largest areas of focus

• Only 14% of respondents expect their decarbonization investments meet their target capital investment return thresholds, absent regulation or subsidies

• 80% of respondents are optimistic or strongly optimistic about the prospects for the financial performance of their company in the next three years versus the last three years

• Respondents view the greatest single risk to the financial performance of their business in 2025 being inflation, the second being workforce availability, and third being raw material availability / supply chain constraints

The complete results of Headwall's survey can be found at this link.

About Headwall Partners
Headwall Partners is a boutique investment banking firm focused exclusively on the steel, metals, and mining industries. Headwall provides strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity placements, restructurings, and other financial services. Headwall Partners is based in Delray Beach, Florida, and serves clients globally. To learn more about Headwall Partners, please visit www.headwallpartners.com.

Contact:
Peter J. Scott
Founder and Managing Partner
+1 203-605-6338
peter.scott@headwallpartners.com

SOURCE: Headwall Partners