Acquisitions, improved markets drive Eagle's 1Q

In the first quarter of its financial year to 31 March 2013, Eagle Materials' turnover, including its share of the Texas Lehigh cement joint venture, rose by 43.7 per cent to US$255.4m as the company was boosted by acquisitions and improving markets.

Trading profit more than doubled (+108.9 per cent) to US$49.47m and after an interest charge 31.6 per cent higher at US$4.96m, the pre-tax profit advanced by 123.5 per cent to US$44.51m and the net attributable profit emerged 115.4 per cent ahead at US$30.1m. The net debt at the end of June stood at US$490.5m to give a gearing level of 67.6 per cent.

Turnover from cement jumped by 53.3 per cent to US$115.7m, with the wholly-owned operations registering a 68.7 per cent jump to US$87.3m, helped by the acquisition last November of two integrated works in Missouri and Oklahoma from Lafarge, while the company's share of the Texas Lehigh joint venture advanced by 19.8 per cent to US$28.4m. The trading profit jumped by 92.7 per cent to US$19m. The acquisition boosted consolidated cement deliveries rose by 46.3 per cent to 1.13Mt (1.24Mst). Volumes in the wholly-owned operations jumped by 57.7 per cent and advanced by 15.4 per cent in the Buda joint venture. The average cement price improved by 6.3 per cent to $94.96 per tonne (US$86.15/st).

The turnover from aggregates and ready-mixed concrete jumped by 95.9 per cent to US$24.8m, helped by the downstream assets in the Kansas City area acquired from Lafarge. At the trading level, however, the profit contribution was 21.9 per cent lower at US$0.16m. Aggregates shipments advanced by 39.4 per cent to 0.82Mt (0.91Mst) and the average price was 31.1 per cent higher at US$8.64/t. The ready-mixed concrete volume jumped by 65.7 per cent to 0.17Mm³ as the average price emerged 21 per cent higher at US$103.29/m3.

Plasterboard turnover increased by 36.7 per cent to US$96m and the trading profit more than doubled (+111.4 per cent) to US$29.6m and trading profit jumped from US$14m to US$11.1m. The plasterboard volume advanced by 16.4 per cent and prices improved by a further 23.3 per cent. In paperboard, turnover eased by 2.4 per cent to US$19m, but the trading profit still improved by 13.3 per cent to US$5.7m, with the average sales price being off by 0.1 per cent at US$553.81/t (US$502.42/st) on volumes that were some seven per cent higher overall, with external sales declining by five per cent as internal volumes grew by 30 per cent.