What public producers are saying about their fourth quarters

The industry’s public producers made additional financial gains in the fourth quarter, further leveraging pricing as volume growth was slow or stagnant across the nation.

Here’s how some producers fared in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Vulcan Materials

Tom Hill, chairman and CEO of Vulcan Materials Co., touted the company’s performance of late as his organization released its fourth-quarter and year-end 2023 results.

Total revenues, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA were all up at Vulcan in the fourth quarter. Those marks were also up across all of 2023 for the nation’s top crushed stone producer.

“2023 was an exceptional year for Vulcan Materials,” Hill says. “We generated over $2 billion in adjusted EBITDA, a 24 percent increase over the prior year; expanded EBITDA margin by 360 basis points; and generated $1.5 billion of operating cash flow that can be deployed to grow our business.”

Aggregate volumes were also up at Vulcan in the fourth quarter, climbing 2 percent. The company’s aggregate volumes slipped 0.1 percent for the year.

Still, the financial report Vulcan released reinforces the gains the company has made of late in pricing. In aggregates, Vulcan’s freight-adjusted sales price per ton was up 13.9 percent in the fourth quarter and 15.8 percent across all of 2023.

The company’s gross profit-per-ton and cash gross profit-per-ton marks were also up significantly in the fourth quarter and across the full year.

“Our industry-leading aggregates cash gross profit per ton increased each quarter on a year-over-year basis and was $9.46 per ton for the full year – a 21 percent improvement over the prior year,” Hill says. “Six consecutive years of unit profitability improvement during a continuously shifting macro backdrop demonstrates the durability of our uniquely positioned aggregates-led business.

Continue reading: Hill: ‘2023 was an exceptional year’ for Vulcan Materials

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Martin Marietta

Ward Nye, chairman and CEO of Martin Marietta, characterized 2023 “as the best year in our company’s history” as he reflected on the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year performance last year.

Nye described Martin Marietta’s fourth quarter as “strong,” with total revenues (up 8.9 percent) and gross profit (up 36.5 percent) both up over the prior year’s fourth quarter.

For the full year, Martin Marietta achieved records in revenues and profitability. The company’s total revenues were up 10 percent last year to $6.16 billion, while gross profit was up 42.1 percent to $2.02 billion.

“2023 was extraordinary in nearly every respect for Martin Marietta,” Nye says. “We achieved the safest and most profitable year ever while enhancing the durability of our business through enterprise excellence together with undertaking non-core asset divestitures.

Fourth-quarter aggregate shipments did decrease 2.1 percent at Martin Marietta, which attributes the drop to moderating demand from the residential slowdown and a softening in warehouse and data center construction. Aggregate pricing, at least, increased 15 percent in the fourth quarter.

Continue reading: Nye: 2023 was ‘best year’ in Martin Marietta history

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Cemex

Cemex noted that net sales deriving from U.S. operations were up 4 percent in the fourth quarter and 6 percent across all of last year.

In the fourth quarter, Cemex’s U.S. operations achieved net sales of $1.26 billion. The operations’ EBITDA was up 18 percent in the quarter to $239 million.

For all of 2023, Cemex’s U.S. operations had net sales of $5.33 billion. EBITDA at U.S. operations last year was up 37 percent to $1.04 billion.

Globally, Cemex says sales were up 8 percent in 2023 and that it achieved a 20 percent EBITDA increase.

“I am pleased to announce that 2023 is a record year for our company where we delivered not only great results and recovered from the extraordinary inflationary pressures of the last few years, but also continued executing against our ambitious decarbonization commitments, reducing our CO2 emissions by 4 percent [last] year and by 13 percent since 2020,” says Fernando González, CEO of Cemex. “Despite the significant macro challenges of the last four years, we have proven not only the resiliency of our business model, but also our ability to pivot and adjust rapidly to changing global conditions.”

Continue reading: Cemex CEO reflects on fourth quarter, year-end 2023

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