Displaying items by tag: Martin Marietta
US: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Hanson has agreed to sell its assets in its US West region to Martin Marietta for US$2.3bn. The transaction includes the sale of its business activities in cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada, with the exception of the Permanente cement plant and quarry. The sale includes two cement plants with related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. The companies expect to conclude the deal by 2022 subject to regulatory approval.
“The sale of our US West region activities is a major step in our portfolio optimisation as part of our ‘Beyond 2020’ strategy,” said Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. “We are simplifying our portfolio in North America and prioritising on the strongest market positions.” Chris Ward, president and chief executive officer of Lehigh Hanson added, “We will accelerate the build-out of our positions in the four key regions Canada, Midwest, Northeast and South through selected bolt-on acquisitions and capacity expansion projects in the future.”
Martin Marietta ends 2020 with growing cement market in Texas
17 February 2021US: Martin Marietta’s total revenue remained stable at US$4.73bn in 2020. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 11% year-on-year to US$1.39bn from US$1.25bn in 2019. Cement shipments rose by 11.7% year-on-year to 1.1Mt in fourth-quarter of 2020 due to strong demand in Texas.
“As we move forward, we believe underlying demand fundamentals will reset, establishing 2021 as the year during which the nation regains its economic footing,” said Ward Nye, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Martin Marietta. He added, “We anticipate single-family housing growth, expanded infrastructure investment and notable heavy industrial projects of scale will support the company’s near-term shipment levels. We expect these demand drivers, combined with the ancillary construction necessary for housing community buildouts and the potential increased infrastructure investment from a comprehensive Federal surface transportation package, should provide for multi-year growth in product demand,”
HeidelbergCement considering selling assets in California
23 December 2020US: HeidelbergCement is considering selling assets in California. Bloomberg News reports that it is working with Morgan Stanley on a potential divestment and it hopes to raise around US$1.5bn. It is reportedly approaching competitors including Martin Marietta Materials, Cemex, CRH, Summit Materials and LafargeHolcim, as well as companies in China and Latin America. The first bids are not expected until early 2021.
The Germany-based building materials company operates three integrated cement plants in California, as part of its Lehigh Hanson subsidiary, in addition to concrete and aggregates units. Divestment of these assets would focus the company instead on markets in the East Coast, Midwest and Canadian regions of North America.
In July 2020 HeidelbergCement announced that it had reduced its value of its assets by Euro3.4bn following a review. It blamed this on reduced demand for building materials due the coronavirus pandemic and the devaluation of its Hanson subsidiary in the UK, in part related to the UK’s exit from the European Union.
US: Martin Marietta has benefited from aggregate sales volume growth in the first quarter of 2019. Its revenue grew by 17% year-on-year to US$939m from US$802m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 28% to US$159m from US$124m. However, the gross profit on its cement business was down and both sales and profit was down for ready-mixed concrete (RMX). Despite this the company said that its cement shipments and pricing increased 7.3% due to demand in Texas, a new Houston-area sales yard and an enhanced product line.
Martin Marietta cement sales rise in 2018
14 February 2019US: Martin Marietta's sales rose by 7% year-on-year to US$4.24bn in 2018 from US$3.97bn in 2017. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at US$1.1bn. Revenue from its cement business grew by 4.5% to US$388m from US$371m.Cement shipments increased slightly to 3.5Mt. The building materials company said that its cement shipments had been negatively affected by bad weather in the fourth quarter. The bulk of the company's revenue comes from it aggregate business followed by ready-mix concrete.
US: Dorothy M Ables has been appointed to the board of directors of Martin Marietta Materials. With Ables’ appointment, the Martin Marietta board comprises 10 directors, four of whom have joined since 2016. She will serve on Martin Marietta’s Audit Committee.
Ables, aged 60 years, brings financial and operational experience to the Martin Marietta board. Most recently, she served as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Spectra Energy from 2008 until her retirement in early 2017, completing a career of over 30 years at Spectra Energy and its predecessor companies. As CAO, Ables was responsible for information technology, human resources, support services and community relations. Prior to that, she held roles as Vice President of Audit Services and as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for Spectra, and as Senior Vice President and chief financial officer (CFO) for Duke Energy Gas Transmission. Ables began her career in the audit department of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, a predecessor of KPMG.
Ables currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cabot Oil & Gas, where she is on the Audit and Compensation Committees. She also sits on the board of Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
US: Martin Marietta Materials has appointed James AJ Nickolas as its new chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from mid-August 2017. He will also become a Senior Vice President and will report to C Howard Nye, chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO). He replaces Anne H Lloyd who is set to retire in September 2017.
Nickolas, aged 46 years, joins Martin Marietta from Caterpillar where he currently serves as the head of Corporate Development. Previously, as Group Chief Financial Officer of Caterpillar’s Resources Industries segment, he was responsible for financial planning and reporting, internal controls, compliance and M&A activity. Before joining Caterpillar in 2008, Nickolas was Executive Director at JP Morgan Securities where he worked on originating and executing debt and equity capital raising and mergers and acquisitions. He began his professional career as a Certified Public Accountant at Coopers & Lybrand where he was a senior tax associate. He holds a BS degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and both an MBA in Finance and a JD degree from the University of Chicago.
Lloyd, aged 56 years, joined Martin Marietta in 1998 as Vice President and Controller. She was named Chief Accounting Officer in 1999 and was promoted to CFO in 2005. She was named Executive Vice President in 2009. As CFO, she has led the financial areas of Martin Marietta, including financial reporting, accounting, internal audit, investor relations, tax and treasury.
US: The US Customs and Border Protection plans to start awarding contracts by mid-April 2017 for a proposed border wall with Mexico. The agency says it will request bids on or around 6 March 2017 and that companies would have to submit ‘concept papers’ to design and build prototypes by 10 March 2017, according to the Associated Press. Finalists must then submit offers with their proposed costs by 24 March 2017. No details on where construction will start or how much it will be cost have been released.
Estimates for the cost of a 2000-mile border wall vary significantly. The Government Accountability Office estimates it would cost on average US$6.5m/mile for a pedestrian fence and US$1.8m/mile for vehicle barriers. However, an internal Homeland Security Department report prepared for department secretary John Kelly places the bill at about US$21m according to an anonymous source quoted by the Associated Press. It proposes that existing barriers built during the George W Bush administration be extended first in stages.
The cost of the wall will depend on the height, materials and other specifications of the project. Granite Construction, Vulcan Materials and Martin Marietta Materials are all likely to be potential bidders and Mexico’s Cemex is also likely to benefit from any increase in demand for construction materials in the region.
Martin Marietta elects new board members
17 August 2016US: Martin Marietta Materials has elected two new directors to its board. John J Koraleski, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Union Pacific Corporation, was elected to Martin Marietta's Board of Directors on 15 August 2016. Koraleski, aged 65 years, also served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for Union Pacific from February 2015 until his retirement in September 2015. Koraleski will serve on Martin Marietta's Audit Committee, Management Development and Compensation Committee, and Executive Committee.
At its Annual Meeting of Shareholders in May 2016, Donald W Slager was elected to Martin Marietta's Board of Directors. Slager, aged 54 years, is President and CEO of Republic Services, as well as a member of its Board of Directors. Slager will serve on Martin Marietta's Finance Committee and Ethics, Environment, Safety and Health Committee.
The two new directors fill the seats previously held by Frank H Menaker, Jr and Richard A Vinroot, both of whom reached the mandatory retirement age provided in Martin Marietta's bylaws. They were not eligible for election at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and retired from the Board after 23 and 20 years of service to the company, respectively.
Martin Marietta's 10-member Board of Directors now consists of nine outside directors.
US/Japan: Taiheiyo Cement Corp has announced that its California subsidiary CalPortland Co will buy North Carolina-based Martin Marietta Materials Inc's cement business in California for US$420m. Taiheiyo Cement aims to complete the acquisition procedures by the end of September 2015. The acquisition will allow the company to recoup the cement production capacity lost by the discontinuation of output at CalPortland's plant in Colton, California and to establish a cement supply system to meet growing demand in California, Arizona and Nevada.