Martin Marietta sees higher building volumes

Martin Marietta Materials, one of the top five US aggregates producers, has announced a first-half turnover 46.9 per cent ahead at US$1612.7m, thanks to the initial consolidation of TXI, formerly Texas Industries, and the EBITDA rose by 71.6 per cent to US$303.2m. 

The trading profit jumped by 102.5 per cent to US$162.5m and after a net interest charge that was 53 per cent higher at US$38.4m and other items, the pre-tax profit emerged at US$126.3m compared with US$52m and the net attributable profit jumped 132.5 per cent to US$88.1m.  As a result of the TXI acquisition the previous July, net debt at the end of June was 53.6 per cent higher at US$1613.8m to give a gearing level of 37.4 per cent, down from 67.3 per cent a year earlier.  

Aggregates
Aggregates production rose by 11.4 per cent to 64.27Mt (70.84Mst), while the average price received was 9.7 per cent higher at 11.88/st.  The mid-eastern area sold 26.44Mt, or 41.1 per cent of the total, a 7.3 per cent increase.  The southeastern region saw deliveries improve by 4.3 per cent to 8.50Mt.  In the western region, which represented 35.6 per cent of the heritage volume, shipments declined by eight per cent to 22.91Mt, while recent additions produced 6.42Mt or 10 per cent of the total. 

For the full year, Martin Marietta Materials is looking for heritage aggregates volumes to improve by between seven and 10 per cent with prices improving by between 7-9 per cent. The asphalt tonnage fell by 15.2 per cent to 0.98Mt, and the price improved by 1.1 per cent while ready-mixed concrete deliveries were helped by the acquisition of TXI and just over doubled  to 2.28Mm³.  

Cement
Cement shipments from the former TXI business amounted to 2.2Mt (2.42Mst) of which 83.4 per cent went to external customers but the wet weather in Texas delayed some shipments into the second half. 

Special products
The special products division, which produces mainly speciality chemicals and dolomitic lime, saw turnover virtually unchanged at US$119.2m (US$119.3m) while the trading profit was 2.1 per cent lower at US$36.5m.