Martin Marietta Materials boosted by Texas Industries
Martin Marietta Materials, including Texas Industries from mid-2014, saw turnover increase by 34.2 per cent in 2014 to US$2958m and the EBITDA of US$631.2m was 59.9 per cent higher than the figure shown a year ago. The trading profit rose by 44.4 per cent to US$314.9m while the net attributable profit it improved by 12.8 per cent to US$155.6m.
Aggregates
Martin Marietta's aggregates production rose by 15,3 per cent in 2014 to 134.31Mt (148.0543Mst) while the original business showed a 7.5 per cent advance to 125.30Mt (138.12Mst) and six months of Texas Industries provided the rest. The average price received by Martin Marietta in 2014 was 3.8 per cent higher.
Volumes in the company's southeastern area, long the weakest, showed the best pricing performance with a 6.4 per cent increase as volumes improved by six per cent to 16.59Mt. That area, which includes Florida and Alabama, represented only 13.4 per cent of the group aggregates volume. In the western region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Iowa, saw aggregates volume increase by 13.8 per cent to 49.78Mt, or 39.7 per cent of the group total. The mid-eastern area sold 3.1 per cent more aggregates at 58.93Mt and the average price improved by 3.8 per cent. The six months of Texas Industries added 7.19Mt.
Of the aggregates division's turnover, pure aggregates represented 77.5 per cent, with ready-mixed concrete contributing 10.1 per cent, road paving 8.1 per cent and asphalt 4.0%.
Ready-mixed concrete
Ready-mixed concrete deliveries in the original Martin Marietta business rose by 16.7 per cent to 1554m³ and the average sales price improved by 11.4 per cent to US$122/t. Adding the 2100m³ from the former Texas Industries operations for six months, the total volume came to 3,654m³. The asphalt volume in the original business improved by 7.3 per cent to 3.01Mt (3.32Mst), while the average price declined by two per cent to US$45.48/t (US$41.26/st) reflecting the fall in the oil price.
Cement
The cement business, which came with Texas Industries, and thus included for only six months, generated a turnover of US$209.6m from the sale of 2.56Mt (2.82Mst) of cement. The average price achieved was US$98.34/t (US$89.21/st). For 2015, Martin Marietta is expecting a turnover of in excess of US$475m and a gross profit of around US$125m.
Expectations
For the current year, Martin Marietta Materials is expecting underlying aggregates volumes to grow by 10 per cent to 12 per cent, with the heritage volumes growing by between four per cent and seven per cent. Aggregates prices are expected to increase by 4-6 per cent on average and production costs per ton should show a slight reduction.
The special products division increased turnover by 4.7 per cent to US$236.1m and the gross profit improved by 1.1 per cent to US$84.6m and the trading profit rose by 7.3 per cent to US$78.9m. Turnover in 2015 is currently forecast to be around in the region of US$245m and the gross profit is expected to rise by around 3.5 per cent. Magnesia-based chemicals are expected to remain the main sales contributor.
