Displaying items by tag: Eagle Materials

US: ThyssenKrupp Polysius, a subsidiary of Germany-based thyssenkrupp, has delivered a Polysius booster mill to Mountain Cement's Laramie grinding plant in Wyoming. The Eagle Materials subsidiary will take delivery of further ancillary equipment, including material handling, process gas management and machine protection systems, throughout mid-late 2023. The supplier said that the mill will help to increase the Laramie plant's flexibility. It will also provide site services and technical support for optimisation and maintenance for two years after commissioning, also slated for 2023.

ThyssenKrupp Polysius' project manager Matthew Burchfield said "This is a very important and interesting project for ThyssenKrupp Polysius. This is the first booster mill system sold in the US and one of the first booster mills worldwide. We are tasked with a very tight engineering and supply schedule. ThyssenKrupp Polysius is working closely with Mountain Cement and its engineering teams."

US: Eagle Materials reported sales of US$2.1bn in 2022, up by 15% year-on-year from 2021 levels. The producer's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 19% to US$782m. Its cement sales rose by 7% to US$1.1bn due to increased prices, despite a drop in volumes. Throughout the year, the company increased its production of Portland limestone cement (PLC).

President and CEO Michael Haack said "Looking ahead, we anticipate continued attractive fundamentals in our markets, despite headwinds relating to higher interest rates and affordability constraints in single-family residential construction. Among the favourable demand factors we expect will affect our results in future periods are projected funding increases for infrastructure projects and healthy demand for heavy industrial projects and multi-family residential construction. We remain well-positioned to capitalise on these conditions, given our geographical footprint across the (Central) US Heartland and fast-growing Sun Belt (Southern US) and our financial strength and flexibility."

Eagle Materials announced this week that it had completed the acquisition of Martin Marietta’s cement import business in the north of California. A key part of the deal includes the sale of a cement terminal at Stockton. No value for the transaction has been disclosed.

The agreement prompts discussion for two immediate reasons. Firstly, it continues the enlargement of Eagle Materials’ cement business with its second terminal in California. The company operates its cement business in a band running almost right across the US. It runs seven cement plants in seven different states and jointly operates, with Heidelberg Materials, a plant in Texas too. It also runs a network of 25 cement terminals, including the new acquisition, stretching from California in the west to Pennsylvania in the east.

Eagle Materials’ focus on the cement sector also harks back to its previous plans to separate its various businesses. In 2019 it approved a plan to split its heavy materials and light materials businesses into two publicly-traded entities. The decision was made in response to pressure by shareholder Sachem Head Capital Management to make the company, in its view, more valuable. A strategic portfolio review followed but the planned separation was subsequently delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and poor market conditions, amongst other reasons. The board of the company then cancelled the proposed separation in 2021 citing the financial benefits of a diversified business, opportunities for strategic growth and the divestment of its oil and gas proppants business.

The other talking point is that the Eagle Materials transaction follows a positive response by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to the abandonment of CalPortland’s attempt to buy the Tehachapi cement plant in southern California and two related terminals from Martin Marietta. CalPortland’s parent company Taiheiyo Cement said in late April 2023 that it had terminated the acquisition agreement originally announced in mid-2022 due to its inability to obtain approval from the FTC in a timely manner. Whilst the FTC did not say if it had directly tried to block the proposed deal it did say, “The abandonment is a victory for consumers and preserves competition for a key component of Southern California’s construction and infrastructure industries.”

The FTC argued that the transaction would have reduced the number of cement suppliers in Southern California from five to four, further concentrating an already concentrated market, and was “presumptively illegal.” It noted that the Tehachapi plant was only about 20km away from CalPortland’s Mojave cement plant. It went on to say that, if the deal had gone ahead, CalPortland was poised to own half of the cement plants serving the Southern California market. It added that it would have been well-placed to raise its prices and that, “the transaction would have also increased the likelihood for coordinated action between the remaining competitors in this concentrated market.”

The de-facto block by the FTC of the Tehachapi sale now opens up the question of who Martin Marietta might try to sell it to next. Cemex, Mitsubishi Cement and National Cement (Vicat) are the obvious contenders given that they each also run integrated plants in the state. Of course another company, especially one with some form of existing distribution network, may express interest. Given its enlarged presence in Northern California, Eagle Materials springs to mind. Other potential buyers are, of course, available.

US: Eagle Materials has completed its acquisition of Martin Marietta's cement import and distribution business in Northern California. The business is centred on the Stockton cement terminal in San Joaquin County. Eagle Materials hopes that the new business will enable it to extend and strengthen its reach across its heartland US cement sales network.

President and chief executive officer Michael Haack said "Our Nevada Cement operations have long-standing customer relationships in Northern California, and this acquisition will uniquely position us to better serve these and new customers with complementary imported product. Our entire cement system is currently 'sold out,' and this acquisition will enable us to more actively participate in the strong US demand environment."

US: Eagle Materials’ consolidated sales were US$1.68bn during the first nine months of its 2023 financial year, up by 16% year-on-year from US$1.45bn in the corresponding period of the 2022 financial year. Its net earnings were US$361m, up by 20% year-on-year from US$300m.

In its cement business, the group noted a drop in volumes and a rise in prices year-on-year during the third quarter of the 2023 financial year. Low inventory levels and ‘difficult weather’ reportedly impacted on demand. The group’s cement volumes fell by 13% year-on-year to 1.7Mt. This resulted in a 2% drop in the cement business’ revenues, to US$256m.

US: Eagle Materials offset higher energy and maintenance costs by raising the prices of its products in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year. This contributed to an 18% year-on-year sales rise to US$561m. The group achieved earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$184m during the quarter, up by 13% year-on-year.

President and chief executive officer Michael Haack said "Our results this quarter exceeded our expectations, as our portfolio of businesses performed well, and we executed on the opportunities available to us. Construction activity remained healthy across our markets, and we realised broad pricing gains across our portfolio again this quarter."

The producer’s cement sales rose by 5% year-on-year to US$285m. Haack said "In our heavy materials business, we implemented a second round of cement price increases in early July 2022 given the strong demand environment and our sold-out position. Looking ahead, we expect demand for cement to remain strong, with infrastructure investment increasing as federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act begins in earnest this fiscal year.”

US: Eagle Materials has recorded consolidated sales in its 2022 financial year of US$1.9bn, up by 15% year-on-year. The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was US$657m, up by 15%. Full-year cement sales totalled US$1bn, up by 7%, with operating earnings of US$260m, up by 11%. The group’s cement volumes rose by 1% to 7.5Mt.

President and CEO Michael Haack said "As we look back on another extraordinary year, I am extremely proud of our team's ability to deliver record operating and financial results despite multiple external challenges, including transportation disruptions, supply chain constraints and, of course, continuing to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.” He added "As we begin our new fiscal year, Eagle is well-positioned, both financially and geographically, to capitalise on the underlying demand fundamentals that are expected to support steady and sustainable construction activity growth over the near and long term. We expect that infrastructure investment should increase in the latter part of our fiscal year, as federal funding from the recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act begins in earnest. And, despite recent interest rate increases, housing demand remains strong across our geographies, outpacing the supply of homes. Nonresidential construction activity is also picking up."

US: Eagle Materials’ consolidated sales rose by 13% year-on-year to US$1.45bn in the third quarter of the 2022 financial year from US$1.28bn in the corresponding quarter of the 2021 financial year. Its sales of cement rose by 12% year-on-year to US$261m, while its earnings from the segment were US$79.8m, up by 13%. Cement volumes totalled 2Mt, up by 7% from third-quarter 2021 financial year levels.

Chief executive officer and president Michael Haack said that the results reflected both continued strength in US construction activity and excellent execution by Eagle Materials as Covid-19-related supply chain challenges continued. He said “We continue to see positive demand trends across our geographic footprint, driven by increased residential construction activity and expanded infrastructure investment. These trends should support growing construction activity and contribute to attractive pricing across our heavy and light materials businesses. We enter the last quarter of our fiscal year in a position of strength, with an excellent balance sheet enabling us to continue to execute on our core strategies.”

Haack added “I’m also proud to share that, during the first nine months of our fiscal year, we achieved the best safety performance in our history, demonstrating our deep commitment to our people and their wellbeing. During the quarter, we also continued to make strides towards our environmental stewardship goals. We are now producing and selling our eco-friendly Portland limestone cement (PLC) from four Eagle cement facilities.”

US: Eagle Materials’ consolidated sales were US$985m in the first half of the 2022 financial year, up by 13% year-on-year from US$875m in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its gross profit rose by 25% to US$282m from US$225m. The group recorded cement sales of US$496m, up by 4.4% from US$475m in 2020.

US: The US Department of Energy has selected Central Plains Cement to receive US$5m-worth of funding to realise its plans for a cryogenic carbon capture (CCC) installation at its Sugar Creek, Missouri, cement plant. Contify Energy News has reported that the system will initially have a capacity of 30t/day of CO₂, with a view to eventually capturing 95% of the plant’s flue gas’ CO₂ content. The Eagle Materials subsidiary will receive US$5m in funding from the US Department of Energy for the project. The sum is part of a raft of a total US$45m-worth of grants to help towards decarbonising heavy industry and natural gas power. Chart Industries will carry out the work.

Chart Industries CEO and President Jill Evanko said that the company’s CCC model increases cement production costs by just 24%, compared to 38% - 130% for other types of system. She added “We are delighted that public and private entities recognise Chart as a leader in carbon capture technologies and products; we view this award as well as our third quarter 2021 commercial activity as meaningful steps and accelerators toward capturing - pun intended - a significant share of our anticipated US$6bn total addressable market for carbon and direct air capture in 2030.”

The St Louis Post newspaper has reported that Holcim US’s Ste-Genevieve, Missouri, cement plant is also among facilities chosen to receive funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS) installations.