How Martin Marietta fared in the third quarter

Nye

Aggregate shipments – including those from acquired operations – grew 10.2 percent at Martin Marietta during the third quarter this year.

On an organic basis, Martin Marietta says its third-quarter aggregate shipments increased 6 percent while pricing increased 2.2 percent, reflecting a higher percentage of lower-priced base stone shipments and opportunistic sales of low-priced excess fill material.

As a company, Martin Marietta says it achieved record third-quarter consolidated and aggregate revenues and gross profit.

“We established new quarterly records for revenues, gross profit, adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) and earnings per diluted share,” says Ward Nye, chairman and CEO of Martin Marietta. “These strong quarterly results were primarily driven by organic shipment growth, pricing gains and value-enhancing acquisitions, which more than offset higher energy-related costs.”

Aggregate shipments in Martin Marietta’s East Group increased 10.1 percent in the third quarter, benefitting from robust construction activity across all primary end-use markets and shipments from the company’s recently acquired Minnesota-based operations.

Third-quarter aggregate pricing increased 0.4 percent in the East Group, inclusive of acquisitions. On a mix-adjusted basis, East Group pricing grew 2.5 percent.

West Group shipments at Martin Marietta, meanwhile, also increased 10.4 percent in the third quarter due to strong underlying demand in Texas and Colorado, improving energy-sector activity and shipments from a recent bolt-on acquisition in Texas. Pricing increased 2.8 percent in the West Group, Martin Marietta says.

According to Nye, Martin Marietta is positioned to capitalize on a number of demand trends, including single-family housing strength, expanded federal and state infrastructure investment and light nonresidential recovery.

“These trends should support growing construction activity and contribute to attractive pricing acceleration for heavy-side building materials,” Nye says. “Our overall confidence is augmented by our newly completed acquisition of Lehigh Hanson Inc.’s West Region business, which further enhanced our pipeline of growth opportunities and deep bench of talent at Martin Marietta.”