US: Vulcan Materials Company saw its loss increase year-on-year to US$54.8m in the first quarter of 2013, from US$52.1m in the same period of 2012. The US construction materials company attributed the widening loss to bad weather, lower production volumes and rising costs.
"Housing starts, as measured on a seasonally adjusted annual rate, are now more than 1 million, indicating the beginnings of a broad-based recovery in residential construction. Growth in residential construction activity and its traditional follow-on impact to private non-residential construction underpins our expectations for volume and earnings improvement in 2013," said Don James, chairman and chief executive officer.
Despite the loss, in revenue increased slightly to US$538m. Vulcan shipped 248,000t in the first quarter of 2013, for internal and external consumption, a 14% rise from the same period in 2012. For the remainder of 2013 Vulcan expects its cement business earnings to improve in 2013 due to lower production costs.