Vulcan Materials makes strong gains in first quarter

First-quarter aggregate sales at Vulcan Materials totaled $1.12 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent versus the first quarter of 2021.

Gross profit within Vulcan’s aggregate segment in the first quarter reached $243 million, a 9 percent ($19 million) increase over the first quarter of 2021. Cash gross profit per ton reached $6.53 in the quarter.

Aggregate shipments also grew 14 percent in January, February and March versus the prior-year period. Vulcan says the increase is consistent with its expectations and a result of more typical weather in certain markets.

“Consistent with our expectations, we delivered strong year-over-year earnings growth in the first quarter,” says Tom Hill, Vulcan’s chairman and CEO. “Our teams executed well, despite macro environment challenges that included accelerating inflation, volatility in the energy markets and ongoing disruptions in supply chain. We remain focused on executing our strategic disciplines to control what we can control and to dampen the headwinds of things outside of our control.”

Vulcan says its total revenues increased 44 percent to $1.54 billion while average selling prices increased in each product line, helping to offset inflationary pressures.

“Our markets are positioned to continue to outperform other parts of the country, and our industry-leading aggregates focus will continue to drive substantial value,” Hill says. “Growing our aggregates unit profitability consistently during the last two years of pandemic-related disruptions demonstrates the resiliency of our business and our ability to capitalize on changes in the macro environment. We expect the favorable pricing dynamics and our strong execution to lead to attractive growth in aggregates unit profitability in 2022 and beyond.”