Displaying items by tag: Eagle Materials
US: Eagle Materials’ revenue rose slightly to US$1.11bn in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Revenue from its Heavy Materials business, including cement, fell slightly to US$564m. Overall cement sales volumes remained stable at 4.41Mt. Operating earnings decreased by 10% to US$153m from US$170m.
“Adjusting for the effects of unusual weather trends during 2018 and a shift in the timing of wallboard price increases and related buying activity, we estimate that the overall market demand for our building materials, notably cement and wallboard, remained in positive territory in 2018, with growth rates in the low single digits,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Powers. He added that in the quarter from October to December 2018 margins had been negatively affected by higher costs due to maintenance outages at two plants and upgrades to emission control equipment.
US: Illinois Cement has installed a Roll Gen System supplied by Martin Engineering at its La Salle plant in Illinois. The power station supplies energy to a remote conveyor location at the site. The patent-pending design uses the kinetic energy of the moving belt to generate enough electricity to drive an automated dust suppression system, a pneumatic belt cleaner tensioner and a series of air cannons, helping operators at the Illinois Cement Plant reduce dust and spillage, increase cargo flow efficiency and minimise labour costs for cleaning and maintenance.
The Martin Roll Gen System is designed to create a self-contained mini power station that allows operators to run electrical monitoring systems, safety devices and a variety of other components. Martin Engineering says that the device is considered a ‘significant’ step toward eliminating power production obstacles, as conveyors move into the next generation of ‘smart systems.’
“Running auxiliary power can be both complicated and costly, requiring expensive labour and oversized cables to accommodate the inevitable voltage drop over long runs, as well as transformers, conduit, junction boxes and other components,” said Andrew Timmerman, Product Development Engineer at Martin Engineering. “The entire project has been a success, particularly in how many man-hours we save in maintenance and upkeep. The tensioning system does a great job, and the Roll Gen puts out enough power that we’re considering adding an automated secondary cleaner and a vibrating dribble chute to capture even more carryback.”
Martin Engineering builds products for bulk materials handling. The company has it headquarters in Neponset, Illinois. It has offices in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, India and the UK.
New President for Eagle Materials
16 August 2018US: Eagle Materials Inc. has announced that Michael Haack has been named as its new President in addition to his role as Chief Operating Officer (COO). The announcement was made by Dave Powers, Eagle’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). "Michael has been serving as our COO since 2014 and has distinguished himself across all of our lines of business,” said Powers. “This expansion of Michael's role reflects the company's significant growth in recent years and the opportunity to build our leadership capacity, as we extend Eagle's track-record as the benchmark operating performer in the industry."
Michael Haack added, "I am excited to take on this expanded responsibility, as we continue to pursue our well-established strategy of value creation and capitalise on the many opportunities we see ahead."
Prior to joining Eagle, Haack spent 17 years at Halliburton Energy Services, holding successively senior operating positions, culminating with the management of Global Operations for Sperry Drilling, a multi-billion dollar company in the drilling and evaluation division of Halliburton. Haack holds a Master of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, both in Industrial Engineering, as well as an MBA from Rice University.
Eagle Materials records record revenues
12 February 2018US: Eagle Materials has reported its financial results for the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, which ended on 31 December 2017. It recorded record revenues of US$359.4m, a rise of 19% compared to the same period of the 2017 fiscal year
Third quarter gross profit improved by 8%, reflecting the financial results of the recently acquired cement plant in Fairborn, Ohio and related assets (the Fairborn Business) and improved net sales prices across most of Eagle’s businesses. Cement, Concrete and Aggregates Cement revenues for the third quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$161.6m, 17% higher than the same quarter last year. Total cement sales volumes for the quarter were 1.3Mt, 12% greater than the same quarter a year earlier. Like-for-like average net cement sales prices increased by 4% and sales volumes declined by 2%, respectively, versus the third quarter of fiscal 2017. This comparison excludes cement sales from the Fairborn Business since its acquisition date.
Operating earnings from cement activities for the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year were a record US$52.5m and were 16% greater than the same quarter a year ago. The earnings improvement was driven primarily by earnings from the Fairborn Business and improved average net cement sales prices offset by lower sales volumes from Eagle’s legacy facilities.
Eagle Materials appoints Margot Carter to its board of directors
01 November 2017US: Eagle Materials has appointed Margot Carter to its board of directors. She currently serves as the lead independent director, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee of Installed Building Products, an installer of building products, and a director of Freeman Company, a brand experience business. Carter has previously worked as the executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary of several public companies, including RealPage, a global provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry.
Eagle Materials’ sales revenue rises by 18% to US$742m in six months to September 2017
25 October 2017US: Eagle Materials’ sales revenue rose by 18% year-on-year to US$742m in the six months to September 2017 from US$630m in the same period of 2016. The revenue from its wholly owned cement business rose by 24% to US$311m. Overall cement sales volumes rose by 14% to 3.08Mt from 2.7Mt. The cement and gypsum wallboard producer benefitted from the acquisition of a cement plant in Fairborn, Ohio as well as increased net sales prices across most of its businesses.
"Eagle Materials' quarterly results reflect hurricane and other weather-related operational and demand interruptions. We were more fortunate than many, as our employees remained safe and our operations incurred no damage. Eagle is poised to serve our customers' additional needs as they meet the challenges of rebuilding over the coming quarters," said Dave Powers, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Eagle Materials.
Hold that cement empire!
11 October 2017Well it doesn’t normally happen like this. In late September 2017 Ash Grove Cement announced that it was set to be bought by Ireland’s CRH. The words it used were a ‘definitive merger agreement.’ Then suddenly this week on 5 October 2017 Ash Grove said that it had received a higher offer from an unnamed third party and that it was extending its so-called ‘window shop period.’ So much for definitive! The following day Reuters revealed that the new bid was from Summit Materials.
The on-going board machinations at LafargeHolcim and the PPC-AfriSam merger saga in South Africa show that the cement industry has its moments of boardroom high drama. Indeed, both of these long-rumbling stories have had murmurs this week with the early departure of LafargeHolcim’s finance director Ron Wirahadiraksa after less than two years and Dangote Cement’s decision to exit the ring from the PPC bidding. However, it’s rare that cement companies are publicly announced as sold and then get gazumped instead.
The Ash Grove debacle also carries a personal dimension. Ash Grove chairman Charlie Sunderland initially described CRH as his company’s biggest customer and one with a close relationship to the firm. Yet a US$300m higher bid suggests how much those ‘kind’ words were actually worth. To add insult to injury the chief executive officer (CEO) of Summit Materials, Tom Hill, used to work for CRH. This no doubt gave him an idea of how the management of CRH thinks. CRH’s public response so far has been that it has noted the extended shareholder approval period at Ash Grove.
At first glimpse Summit Materials and CRH have a similar cement production base in the US. Both companies operate two integrated plants in the country. Summit Materials runs plants at Hannibal, Missouri and Davenport, Iowa. CRH runs plants at Sumterville, Florida and Trident, Montana. Summit then has 10 cement terminals along the Mississippi River from Minnesota to Louisiana compared to CRH US’ five cement terminals in Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, Dundee, Michigan, Buffalo, New York and Duluth, Minnesota.
Yet, CRH also has two plants in Canada. Then the sheer scale of CRH’s other operations in North America simply dwarfs Summit’s. CRH Americas reported sales of US$16.7bn in 2016, more than 10 times higher than the US$1.6bn that Summit Materials declared. Both companies cover aggregates, asphalt, readymix concrete and cement but CRH is by far the larger of the two. So much so in fact that Summit Materials might potentially be taking on a serious amount of debt to finance the Ash Grove sale. As such any blip to the US cement market over the next few years could have serious repercussions to an overleveraged Summit Materials.
On face value the possible engagement with Summit Materials might appear to show that there is a lack of trust between CRH and Ash Grove. However, this cannot be inferred. As its shares are traded over the counter, Ash Grove’s shareholders have allowed a two-week shop window to enable other companies to counter-offer. This is to ensure that they get the best possible value. Talking to Summit is part of this process and may, or may not, mean that the last remaining US-owned cement producer stays based in the US after all.
US: Eagle Materials’ revenue has risen by 23% year-on-year to US$366.1m in the first quarter of its 2018 fiscal year, which runs 1 April – 30 June 2017. Its first quarter earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 22%, reflecting improved sales volumes and net sales prices across nearly all businesses and the financial results of the recently acquired cement plant in Fairborn, Ohio with related assets.
Cement revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, came to US$183m, a rise of 26% year-on-year. The average net sales price rose by 6%. Total cement sales volumes increased by 21% to 1.5Mt. Like-for-like average net cement sales prices and sales volumes increased by 4% and 7%, respectively.
Operating earnings from Eagle Materials’ cement activities for the first quarter were a record US$43.2m, 37% higher than the same quarter of the 2017 fiscal year. The earnings improvement was driven primarily by improved average net cement sales prices and cement sales volumes and earnings from its Fairborn Business. During the quarter, its Nevada cement plant experienced reduced production in connection with the installation of certain pollution control equipment to enable the plant to burn solid-waste fuels. The ability to use solid-waste fuel will lower energy costs in the future. The reduced production negatively affected the absorption of operating costs at the cement plant during the quarter. The project is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2017.
US: Eagle Materials’ sales revenue rose by 6% year-on-year to US$1.21bn in its financial year to 31 March 2017 from US$1.14bn in the same period in 2016. The building materials producer completed its acquisition of Cemex’s Fairborn cement plant in Ohio with associated assets in February 2017 and this contributed to its cash flow in the period. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 4.87Mt from 4.78Mt.
Cemex completes sale of Fairborn cement plant to Eagle Materials
13 February 2017US: Cemex has completed the sale of its Fairborn cement plant in Ohio and a cement terminal in Columbus to Eagle Materials for US$400m. Cemex said proceeds from the sale will be used for debt reduction and general corporate purposes. Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to the cement producer for the transaction.