Vulcan's overall losses reduce, but rise in cement

Vulcan Materials' turnover edged ahead by 0.2% last year to US$2,564.6m and the EBITDA, which had dropped by 32.4% in 2010, recovered by 18.8% to US$440.4m. Excluding exceptional items, the EBITDA emerged at some US$353ms. After a net interest charge 20.2% higher at US$217.2m, the pre-tax loss was reduced by 20% to US$153.7m and the net loss reduced by 26.7% to US$70.8m.

Capital expenditure, after two years of decline, increased by 14.6% to US$98.9m and is expected to be around US$100m this year.  Shareholders' funds at the end of the year were down by 4.2% to US$3,791.6m, while the net debt was 0.2% lower at US$2,659.6m, giving a gearing of 70.1% up from 67.2% a year earlier.  For this year, Vulcan is expecting an EBITDA in the order of US$500m, including a US$25m contribution from the profit enhancement plan.

Turnover from aggregates declined by 1.9% to US$1734m as aggregates shipments declined by a further 3.1% to 129.76Mt (143.03Mt), with 2011 being the sixth year of decline in a row. The freight-adjusted average price recovered by 1.2% to US$11.30/t, with better volumes in California and in the Mid-Atlantic area.  Average selling prices improved in a number of markets notably Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.  Vulcan is now expecting shipment volumes to begin to recover and to rise by 1% to 2% during 2012 and for prices to improve by between 2% and 4%. 

The turnover was down by 2.2%, after a 12.8% drop in the previous year, to US$374.7m with ready-mixed volumes declining by 6.2% to 2.97Mm³, but the average price recovered by 6.0% to US$120.55 per m³.  Asphalt turnover rose by 7.9% to US$399.0m as asphalt shipments recovered by 0.6% to 6.54Mt and the average price advanced by 8.2%.

The cement turnover came down by 10.4% to US$71.9m and overall volumes fell by 4.9% to 0.72Mt. Third party sales jumped by 26.3% to 0.34Mt, but inter-group deliveries fell by 22.7% to 0.37Mt. The average cement price achieved last year fell by 7.1% to US$81.19/t (US$73.66/st). The loss in cement increased by 17.6% last year to US$4.54m. That was a disappointment, but Vulcan hopes to get close to eliminating losses in cement this year.