How U.S. Concrete fared in the first quarter of 2018

Sandbrook

Product revenue and the average sales price of aggregate increased in the first quarter of 2018 at U.S. Concrete.

According to the company, aggregate product revenue jumped 83.3 percent to $32.7 million while the average sales price of aggregate products increased 14.1 percent to $14.36 per ton.

The company also completed three first-quarter acquisitions, acquiring aggregate reserves in Texas among other assets.

“Despite yet another challenging quarter due to weather, we are pleased to report multiple financial accomplishments, including our 29th straight quarter of year-over-year revenue growth, our 28th straight quarter of ready-mixed concrete pricing growth as well as a new first-quarter revenue high of $328 million,” says Bill Sandbrook, president, CEO and vice chairman of U.S. Concrete. “We continue to maintain our focus on operating excellence and push forward with accelerated efforts on integrating our recent acquisitions, which were strong contributors for the quarter.”

The first quarter included the negative impact of weather-related challenges, the company adds. U.S. Concrete experienced the wettest February on record in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Also, four nor’easters impacted the company’s Atlantic region in March.

The weather delays did not result in the cancellation of work, the company says – only the deferment of work into the future.

“We have a lot to be excited about heading into the peak months of the construction season and are optimistic about the rest of the year,” Sandbrook says. “We have grown and maintained record backlog levels, we have just scratched the surface on the production and earnings capacity of our recent acquisitions and demand remains high in all of our markets, which we intend to capitalize on in the coming months with the cooperation of more normalized weather.”

The integration of Polaris Materials, which U.S. Concrete’s recently acquired, is ongoing.

“The addition means more than just an internal source of aggregates for our ready-mixed concrete business in northern California and entrance into new markets, but represents our ability to provide high-quality materials in otherwise supply-constrained areas for the foreseeable future,” Sandbrook says. “Our integration of Polaris remains ahead of our internal plan, and we continue to aggressively work on the acceleration of volume into the various markets we serve as well as plans to further develop land acquired as part of the transaction for additional capacity. We are extremely excited and confident with the anticipated returns from this dynamic acquisition.”