Martin Marietta reports a weak Q1 on lower volumes

Martin Marietta Materials, which last month completed its acquisition of Bluegrass, then the largest privately-held US aggregates company, has announced a first-quarter turnover five per cent below the comparable period last year at US$802m, while EBITDA showed a 16.5 per cent reduction to US$123.3m. The trading profit declined from US$77.2m to US$39.1m, a 49.4 per cent fall. After a net interest charge that was 67.9 per cent higher at US$35.1m and after other items, the pretax profit emerged at US$12.5m compared with US$56.8m a year earlier, a 78 per cent drop. The net attributable profit declined from US$42.3m to just US$10m. Capital expenditure is estimated by the company between US$450m-500m for the year and the interest charge between US$135m-140m. 

Aggregates production eased by 7.9 per cent to 27.23Mt (30.02Mst), while the average price received was 2.3 per cent higher at US$14.04./st. The mid-eastern area sold 10.41Mt, or 38.2 per cent of the total, a 9.9 per cent decline. The southeastern region saw deliveries fall by 12.4 per cent to 4Mt. In the western region, which represented 47.1 per cent of the heritage volume, shipments eased by 4.7 per cent to 12.83Mt. For the full year, Martin Marietta Materials is looking for aggregates volumes to improve by 11-14 per cent. 

The asphalt tonnage declined by 30.7 per cent to 0.17Mt while the price showed a 12.7 per cent recovery. Ready-mixed concrete deliveries eased by 2.3 per cent to 1.54Mm³. Cement shipments in the Texas business declined by 8.8 per cent to 0.75Mt (0.83Mst), with cement prices rising by 4.2 per cent to US$117.79/t. The special products division, which produces mainly speciality chemicals and dolomitic lime, saw turnover improve by 9.3 per cent to US$64.93m and margins improved.