Nye looks forward, back for Martin Marietta

Ward Nye, chairman, president and CEO of Martin Marietta Materials Inc., offered some perspective on the company’s recent performance and an outlook for the remainder of 2015 upon the release of Martin Marietta’s latest quarterly report.

According to Nye, the state of Texas continues to provide a number of opportunities to his company. Nye says Texas ranks second in the United States in job growth, and increased construction activity and a diverse industrial base are supporting the state and providing Martin Marietta opportunities.

“Our leading position in Texas’ major northern, central and southern markets will allow us to capitalize on this trend as our customers’ backlogs across the construction end-use spectrum continue to improve,” he says. “Construction activity is led by the state Department of Transportation’s nearly $9 billion fiscal-year 2015 letting budget, which includes multi-year projects and adds to an existing infrastructure backlog.”

Texas also ranks first in nonresidential starts, Nye adds, with $39 billion in the last 12 months. It’s second in housing starts, he says, representing more than 15 percent of the nation’s housing starts for the last 12 months through March.

“We continue to see indicators of further recovery in the eastern half of the United States, where Martin Marietta has leading market positions,” Nye says. “North Carolina, Georgia and Florida all rank in the top five in job growth and, similar to Texas, construction activity is improving.

“Further, both North Carolina and Georgia are among several states considering legislation to expand infrastructure funding, supporting the importance of transportation investment in spurring economic growth,” he adds.

According to Martin Marietta, the biggest risks to its 2015 performance are Congress’ actions and timing surrounding federal highway funding, as well as uncertainty over the funding mechanism for the Highway Trust Fund. Martin Marietta management expects Congress to extend federal highway funding through this fall with a continuing resolution.