Granite CEO reflects on the start of 2023

Weather contributed to a slow start to the year at Granite Construction, which released its first-quarter results on Tuesday.

According to Granite, companywide revenue in the first quarter was down about 14 percent versus the first quarter of 2022. Granite’s first-quarter gross profit was also down about 53 percent compared with the prior-year period.

Despite the setbacks, company president and CEO Kyle Larkin is encouraged by the market environment and the opportunities ahead for his company.

“With extreme weather in parts of our business, this was not the start of the year that we were hoping for,” Larkin says. “However, I am confident that we are on the right path to realizing the targets of our strategic plan. We have made significant strides not only in derisking our portfolio, but also rebuilding the portfolio with work aligned with our financial targets.”

First-quarter revenue and gross profit in Granite’s materials business decreased year over year due to lower volumes in both aggregates and asphalt that resulted from inclement weather, Granite says. Aggregate and asphalt volumes were down 21 percent and 39 percent, respectively, year over year with Granite experiencing the largest decreases in California.

Despite the first-quarter volume decreases, Granite says order volumes were strong going into the second quarter due to healthy public markets.

Granite also completed two bolt-on acquisitions in the year’s first few months – one in Nevada and another in the Pacific Northwest.

“These transactions are representative of the acquisitions contemplated in our strategic plan: bolt-on, materials-focused acquisitions in or adjacent to established home markets which strengthen and provide our home markets with opportunities to grow with low integration risk,” Larkin says.