Good weather, backlogged work drive up revenues at MDU Resources

The construction materials business at MDU Resources Group, whose subsidiary is Knife River Corp., achieved record second-quarter revenues and earnings.

Revenues in the construction materials business were $621.1 million, compared to $596 million for the same period last year. Earnings were at $53 million, up 82 percent over second-quarter-2019 earnings.

According to MDU Resources, favorable weather across the majority of the company’s market area allowed the company to complete more contracting work in the quarter compared to last year. Recent acquisitions also contributed to the increase, the company says.

“Our employees have done an outstanding job of continuing to provide essential services to our customers while safely working under modified conditions as prescribed by local, state and federal guidelines relating to COVID-19,” says David Goodin, president and CEO of MDU Resources. “Our operations performed extremely well in the quarter, with record revenues and earnings at both our construction businesses and very strong results from our regulated energy delivery businesses.

The construction materials backlog of work at June 30 was $875 million, MDU Resources says. That’s the second highest in the company’s history behind 2019’s record $1.04 billion at June 30.

Construction services

MDU Resource’s construction services business also had record revenues and earnings for the second quarter. Revenue was $497.2 million in the quarter, compared to $464.9 million in second quarter of 2019. Earnings were up 22 percent at $27.9 million. Higher workloads and acquisitions contributed to the earnings increase, MDU Resources says.

While some MDU Resources projects experienced slowdowns as a result of the pandemic, the company says it continues to see strong demand for its services. The construction services backlog of work at June 30 was an all-time record of $1.31 billion. That compares to last year’s record of $1.15 billion.

Companywide, MDU Resources reported second-quarter earnings of $99.7 million. That’s a 61 percent increase over second-quarter 2019 earnings of $61.8 million, or 31 cents per share.