Eagle Materials boosts cement and plasterboard volumes
Including its share of the jointly-owned Texas Lehigh Cement, the turnover of Eagle Materials for the financial year to the end of March rose by 27.1 per cent to US$738.9m, including the assets acquired from Lafarge from the end of November last year. Of the total turnover, plasterboard accounted for 41.5 per cent, cement 40.8 per cent, plasterboard liner 10.2 per cent and aggregates and concrete 7.5 per cent.
The trading profit jumped by 93.9 per cent to US$134.54m thanks to an 11-fold increase in the contribution from plasterboard as prices recovered. Corporate overheads rose by 21.9 per cent to US$23.9m and other non-operating expenses by 17.2 per cent to US$10.7m, giving a profit before interest that was 145.9 per cent higher at US$99.9m. After a net interest expense 4.8 per cent lower at US$15.8m, the pre-tax profit almost quadrupled to US$84.1m and the net attributable profit tripled to US$57.7m.
Net debt rose by 106.1 per cent to US$536.9m to give a year-end gearing level of 77.1 per cent compared with 55.1 per cent a year earlier. However, that was before the Lafarge deal, which cost US$446m, and the share issue that raised US$160m.
Cement turnover advanced by 25.3 per cent to US$301.3m, of which the wholly-owned operations registered a 32.9 per cent advance to US$205m and Eagle Material's share of the Texas joint venture with HeidelbergCement improved by 11.8 per cent to US$96.3m. The 1.3 per cent reduction in the trading profit to US$46.2m comprised of a 25.1 per cent reduction in the wholly-owned cement operations to US$13.7m and a 14 per cent rise in the contribution from the associate to US$32.5m.
Cement deliveries were 21.3 per cent higher at 3Mt (3.3Mst) and were made up of a 28.8 per cent, acquisition boosted, volume increase in the subsidiaries to 2.17Mt (2.39Mst) and a 5.3 per cent advance in the volumes of the Texas joint venture to 0.83Mt (0.91Mst). Eagle Material's average cement price in the financial year was 2.5 per cent higher at US$92.03/t (US$83.49/st), with prices in the final quarter being 4.4 per cent higher at US$96.79/t (US$87.81/st).
Turnover from aggregates and ready-mixed concrete was boosted by the Kansas City acquisition last year and rose by 23.9 per cent to US$55.5m and the trading loss was reduced from US$5.4m to US$1.1m. Shipments of aggregates rose by 18.5 per cent to 2.39Mt (2.63Mst) and the average price improved by 2.9 per cent to US$6.68/t (US$6.06/st). Deliveries of ready-mixed concrete advanced by 13.8 per cent to 0.44Mm³ and the average price was ahead up by 9.3 per cent to US$91.22/m3, with prices in the final quarter being 6.9 per cent higher than the average for the 12 months.
The plasterboard turnover advanced by 40.9 per cent to US$306.5m and the trading profit jumped 11 times to US$69.7m as the average selling price shot up by 27.1 per cent. Plasterboard volume in the year registered a 16.9 per cent recovery and the selling price in the final quarter was 16.1 per cent higher than the average for the year. Turnover in plasterboard liner declined by 3.5 per cent to US$75.5m but the trading profit rose by 48.3 per cent to US$25.2m, as internal sales tonnage advanced by 23.9 per cent, but the external tonnage was 1.9 per cent lower as the total tonnage rose by 6.1 per cent.
