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10-K 1 d640896d10k.htm FORM 10-K
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| [X] | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
|---|
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018
OR
| [ ] | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
|---|
For the transition period from to
Commission file number 1-12744
MARTIN MARIETTA MATERIALS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| North Carolina | 56-1848578 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
| 2710 Wycliff Road, Raleigh, North Carolina | 27607-3033 | |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
(919) 781-4550
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Name of each exchange on which registered | |
| Common Stock (par value $.01 per share) | New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
Yes [X] No [ ]
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.
Yes [ ] No [X]
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes [X] No [ ]
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).
Yes [X] No [ ]
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [X]
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer [X] | Accelerated filer [ ] | |
| Non-accelerated filer [ ] | Smaller reporting company [ ] | |
| Emerging growth company [ ] |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [ ]
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes [ ] No [X]
As of June 29, 2018, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $11,000,435,608.61 based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.
Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock on the latest practicable date.
| Class | Outstanding at February 15, 2019 | |
| Common Stock, $.01 par value per share | 62,430,548 shares |
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
| Document | Parts Into Which Incorporated | |
| Excerpts from Annual Report to Shareholders for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2018 (Annual Report) | Parts I, II, and IV | |
| Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 9, 2019 (Proxy Statement) | Part III |
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| PART IV | 33 | |||||
| ITEM 15. | EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES | 33 | ||||
| ITEM 16. | FORM 10-K SUMMARY | 38 | ||||
| SIGNATURES | 39 |
Table of Contents
Item 1 - Business ◆ Part I
PART I
ITEM 1 - BUSINESS
General
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (the “Company” or “Martin Marietta”) is a natural resource-based building materials company. The Company supplies aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel) through its network of more than 300 quarries, mines and distribution yards to customers in 31 states, Canada, the Bahamas and the Caribbean Islands. In the western United States, Martin Marietta also provides cement and downstream products, namely, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and paving services in markets where the Company has a leading aggregates position. Specifically, the Company has two cement plants in Texas, and ready mixed concrete and asphalt operations in Texas, Colorado, Louisiana and Arkansas. Paving services are exclusively in Colorado. The Company’s heavy-side building materials are used in infrastructure, nonresidential and residential construction projects. Aggregates are also used in agricultural, utility and environmental applications and as railroad ballast. The aggregates, cement, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and paving product lines are reported collectively as the “Building Materials” business. The Company also operates a Magnesia Specialties business with production facilities in Michigan and Ohio. The Magnesia Specialties business produces magnesia-based chemicals products which are used in industrial, agricultural and environmental applications. It also produces dolomitic lime sold primarily to customers in the steel and mining industries. Magnesia Specialties’ products are shipped to customers worldwide.
The Company was formed in 1993 as a North Carolina corporation to serve as successor to the operations of the materials group of the organization that is now Lockheed Martin Corporation. An initial public offering of a portion of the Company’s Common Stock was completed in 1994, followed by a tax-free exchange transaction in 1996 that resulted in 100% of the Company’s Common Stock being publicly traded.
The Company completed over 90 smaller acquisitions from the time of its initial public offering until the present, which allowed the Company to enhance and expand its aggregates-led presence in the building materials marketplace. This included an exchange of certain assets in 2011 with Lafarge North America Inc. (“Lafarge”), pursuant to which it received aggregates quarry sites, ready mixed concrete and asphalt plants, and a road paving business in and around the metropolitan Denver, Colorado, and the I-25 corridor, in exchange for which Lafarge received properties consisting of quarries, an asphalt plant and distribution yards operated by the Company along the Mississippi River (called the Company’s “River District Operations”) and a cash payment.
The business has developed further through the following transactions over the past five years.
In 2014, the Company completed the acquisition of Texas Industries, Inc. (“TXI”), further augmenting its position as a leading supplier of aggregates and heavy building materials. TXI, as a stand-alone entity, was a leading supplier of heavy construction materials in the southwestern United States and a major supplier of natural aggregates and ready mixed concrete in Texas, northern Louisiana and, to a lesser extent, in Oklahoma and Arkansas. TXI was the largest supplier of cement, ready mixed concrete, and concrete products in Texas. TXI enhanced the Company’s position as an aggregates-led, low-cost operator in large and fast-growing geographies in the United States and provided high-quality assets in cement and ready mixed concrete.
In addition to the cement operations, the Company acquired as part of the TXI acquisition nine quarries and six aggregates distribution terminals located in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The Company also acquired approximately 120 ready mixed concrete plants, situated primarily in three areas of Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton area of north Texas; the Austin area of central Texas; and from Beaumont to Texarkana in east Texas), in north and central Louisiana and in Southwestern Arkansas. As part of an agreement in conjunction with the United States Department of Justice’s review of the transaction, the Company divested its North Troy Quarry in Oklahoma and two related rail distribution yards in Dallas and Frisco, Texas.
TXI was also a cement producer in California. In 2015, the Company divested its California cement operations acquired from TXI. These operations were not in close proximity to aggregates and other core assets of the Company and, unlike other marketplace competitors, were not vertically integrated with ready mixed concrete production. The divestiture primarily included a cement plant, two distribution terminals, mobile equipment, intangible assets and inventory. The Company also completed the integration of the TXI operations in 2015, and completed three smaller acquisitions, which included three aggregates operations and related assets.
In 2016, the Company acquired aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt and paving operations in southern Colorado that provided more than 500 million tons of mineral reserves and expanded the Company’s presence along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, home to 80% of Colorado’s population. The Company also acquired the remaining interest it had not previously owned in a ready mixed concrete company that serves the I-35 corridor in central Texas between Dallas and Austin, which enhanced the Company’s position and provided additional vertical integration benefits with the Company’s cement product line.
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Part I ◆ Item 1 - Business
In 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of Bluegrass Materials Company (“Bluegrass”), the largest privately held, pure-play aggregates business in the United States. With a portfolio of 22 active sites acquired by the Company, the operations provided more than 2.2 billion tons, or 125 years, of strategically-located, high-quality reserves, in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. These operations complement the Company’s existing southeastern footprint in its Mid-America and Southeast Groups and provide a new growth platform within Maryland and Kentucky. The Company has surpassed its $15 million run rate synergy target.
Between 2001 and 2018, the Company disposed of or idled a number of underperforming operations, including aggregates, ready mixed concrete, trucking, and asphalt and road paving operations of its Building Materials business and the refractories business of its Magnesia Specialties business. In some of its divestitures, the Company concurrently entered into supply agreements to provide aggregates at market rates to certain of these divested businesses. During 2015, the Company disposed of certain non-core asphalt operations in San Antonio, Texas and divested its California cement operations. Divestitures in 2018 also included those required as part of the governmental approval associated with the acquisition of Bluegrass, consisting of one site owned by Bluegrass and one site operated by the Company. The Company will continue to evaluate opportunities to divest underperforming assets, if appropriate, during 2019 consistent with its strategic plan and in an effort to redeploy capital for other opportunities.
Business Segment Information
The Company conducts its Building Materials business through three reportable segments, organized by geography: Mid-America Group, Southeast Group and West Group. The Mid-America and Southeast Groups provide aggregates products only. The West Group provides aggregates, cement and downstream products. Our top 10 states accounted for 85% of the Building Materials business total revenues in 2018: Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Maryland and Nebraska. The Company also has the Magnesia Specialties segment, which includes its magnesia-based chemicals and dolomitic lime businesses.
Building Materials Business
This section describes the product lines of the Building Materials business undertaken by the Company within its Mid-America Group, Southeast Group, and West Group. The Company operates its aggregates product line of business in all of these geographic segments within its Building Materials business. In 2018, the aggregates product line represented 61% of the Company’s consolidated total revenues. The Company’s cement, ready mixed concrete, and asphalt and paving operations are conducted within the Company’s West Group, with its two cement plants in Texas, and the remaining ready mixed concrete and asphalt product lines in Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Paving services are exclusively in Colorado. The Company’s cement product line is described below and in greater detail in the next section.
The Building Materials business serves customers in the construction marketplace. The business’ profitability is sensitive to national, regional and local economic conditions and cyclical swings in construction spending, which are in turn affected by fluctuations in levels of public-sector infrastructure funding; interest rates; access to capital markets; and demographic, geographic, employment and population dynamics. The heavy-side construction business, inclusive of much of the Company’s operations, is conducted outdoors. Therefore, precipitation and other weather-related conditions, including flooding, hurricanes, snowstorms and droughts, can significantly affect production schedules, shipments, costs, efficiencies and profitability. Generally, the financial results for the first and fourth quarters are subject to the impacts of winter weather, while the second and third quarters are subject to the impacts of heavy precipitation.
Aggregates are an engineered, granular material consisting of crushed stone, sand and gravel of varying mineralogies, manufactured to specific sizes, grades and chemistry for use primarily in construction applications. The Company’s operations consist primarily of open pit quarries; however, the Company is the largest operator of underground aggregates mines in the United States with 14 active underground mines located in the Mid-America Group. On average, the Company’s aggregates reserves exceed 75 years based on normalized production levels and approximate 100 years at current production rates.
Cement is the basic binding agent used to bind water, aggregates and sand, in the production of ready mixed concrete. The Company has a strategic and leading cement position in Texas, with production facilities in Midlothian, Texas, south of Dallas/Fort Worth, and Hunter, Texas, north of San Antonio. These plants produce Portland and specialty cements, have a combined annual capacity of 4.5 million tons, and operated at 75% to 80% utilization in 2018. The Midlothian plant permit allows the Company to expand production by up to 800,000 additional tons. In addition to the two production facilities, the Company operates four cement distribution terminals. Calcium carbonate in the form of limestone is the principal raw material used in the production of cement. The Company owns more than 600 million tons of limestone reserves adjacent to its cement production plants.
Ready mixed concrete, a mixture primarily of cement, water, aggregates, and sand, is measured in cubic yards and specifically batched or produced for customers’ construction projects and then transported and poured at the project site. The aggregates used for ready
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mixed concrete is a washed material with limited amounts of fines (such as dirt and clay). The Company operates 140 ready mix plants in Texas, Colorado, Louisiana and Arkansas. Asphalt is most commonly used in surfacing roads and parking lots and consists of liquid asphalt, or bitumen, the binding medium, and aggregates. Similar to ready mixed concrete, each asphalt batch is produced to customer specifications. The Company’s asphalt operations are located primarily in Colorado; additionally, paving services are offered in Colorado. Market dynamics for these downstream product lines include a highly competitive environment and lower barriers to entry compared with aggregates and cement.
The Building Materials business markets its products primarily to the construction industry, with 39% of the aggregates product line shipments in 2018 made to contractors in connection with highway and other public infrastructure projects and the balance of its shipments made primarily to contractors in connection with nonresidential and residential construction projects. The Company believes public-works projects have historically accounted for approximately 50% of the total annual aggregates and cement consumption in the United States. Therefore, these businesses benefit from public-works construction projects. The Company also believes exposure to fluctuations in nonresidential and residential, or private-sector, construction spending is lessened by the business’ mix of public sector-related shipments.
As a result of dependence upon the construction industry, the profitability of aggregates and cement producers is sensitive to national, regional and local economic conditions, and particularly to cyclical swings in construction spending, which is affected by fluctuations in interest rates, demographic and population shifts, and changes in the level of infrastructure spending funded by the public sector.
The federal highway bill provides annual funding for public-sector highway construction projects. After a decade of 36 short-term funding provisions since the expiration of the prior federal highway bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21__st Century (“MAP-21”), the five-year, $305 billion highway bill, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the “FAST Act” or the “Act”), was signed into law on December 4, 2015. The FAST Act reauthorizes federal highway and public transportation programs and stabilizes the Highway Trust Fund. The FAST Act retains the programs supported under the predecessor bill, MAP-21, but with some changes. Specifically, Transportation Infrastructure and Innovation Act (“TIFIA”), a U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) alternative funding mechanism, which under MAP-21 provided three types of federal credit assistance for nationally or regionally significant surface transportation projects, now allows more diversification of projects. TIFIA is designed to fill market gaps and leverage substantial private co-investment by providing projects with supplemental or subordinate debt that is not subject to national debt ceiling challenges or sequestration. Since inception, TIFIA has provided more than $25 billion of credit assistance to over 50 projects representing over $90 billion in infrastructure investment. Under the FAST Act, TIFIA annual funding ranges from $275 million to $300 million and no longer requires the 20% matching funds from state DOTs. Consequently, states can advance construction projects immediately with potentially zero upfront outlay of local state DOT dollars. TIFIA requires projects to have a revenue source to pay back the credit assistance within a 30 to 40 year period. The TIFIA program has the ability to significantly leverage construction dollars. Private investment in transportation projects funded through the TIFIA program is particularly attractive, in part due to the subordination of public investment to private. Management believes TIFIA could provide a substantial boost for state DOT construction programs well above what is currently budgeted. As of January 2019, TIFIA financed projects for the Company’s top five sales-generating states (Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, and Iowa) exceeded $30 billion since the inception of the program, with TIFIA assistance for such projects exceeding $8 billion, according to TIFIA.
Public infrastructure activity has not yet experienced the anticipated benefits from funding provided by the FAST Act and the TIFIA program. State and local initiatives that support infrastructure funding, including gas tax increases and other ballot initiatives, are increasing in size and number as these governments recognize the need to play an expanded role in public infrastructure funding. Management believes that funding at the state level will grow at a faster rate than federal funding. State spending on infrastructure generally leads to increased growth opportunities for the Company. The pace of construction should accelerate and shipments to the public infrastructure market should return to historical levels as monies from both the federal government and state and local governments become available. A return to historical shipment volumes should be facilitated by state DOTs and contractors as they address their respective labor constraints. The level of state public-works spending is varied across the nation and dependent upon individual state economies. The degree to which the Company could be affected by a reduction or slowdown in infrastructure spending varies by state. The state economies of the Building Materials business’ five largest sales-generating states may disproportionately affect the Company’s financial performance.
The federal highway bill provides spending authorizations, which represent the maximum financial obligation that will result from the immediate or future outlays of federal funds for highway and transit programs. The federal government’s surface transportation programs are financed mostly through the receipts of highway user taxes placed in the Highway Trust Fund, which is divided into the Highway Account and the Mass Transit Account. Revenues credited to the Highway Trust Fund are primarily derived from a federal gas
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tax, a federal tax on certain other motor fuels and interest on the accounts’ accumulated balances. Of the currently imposed federal gas tax of $0.184 per gallon, which has been static since 1993, $0.15 is allocated to the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund.
Transportation investments generally boost the national economy by enhancing mobility and access and by creating jobs, which is a priority of many of the government’s economic plans. According to the Federal Highway Administration, every $1 billion in federal highway investment creates approximately 28,000 jobs. The number of jobs created is often dependent on the nature and aggregates intensity of the projects. Approximately half of the Building Materials business’ total revenues from the infrastructure end-use market come from federal funding authorizations, including matching funds from the states. For each dollar spent on road, highway and bridge improvements, the Federal Highway Administration estimates an average benefit of $5.20 is recognized in the form of reduced vehicle maintenance costs, reduced delays, reduced fuel consumption, improved safety, reduced road and bridge maintenance costs and reduced emissions as a result of improved traffic flow.
The Company’s Building Materials business covers a wide geographic area. The five largest sales-generating states (Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, and Iowa) for the Building Materials business accounted for 72% of total revenues by state of destination in 2018. The Company’s Building Materials business is accordingly affected by the economies in these regions and has been adversely affected in part by recessions and weaknesses in these economies from time to time. Recent improvements in the national economy and in some of the states in which the Company operates have led to improvements in profitability in the Company’s Building Materials business.
Natural aggregates sources can be found in relatively homogeneous deposits in certain areas of the United States. As a general rule, truck shipments from an individual quarry are limited because the cost of transporting processed aggregates to customers is high in relation to the price of the product itself. As described below, the Company’s distribution system mainly uses trucks, but also has access to a river barge and ocean vessel network where the per-mile unit cost of transporting aggregates is much lower. In addition, acquisitions have enabled the Company to extend its customer base through increased access to rail transportation. Proximity of quarry facilities to customers or to long-haul transportation corridors is an important factor in competition for aggregates businesses.
Product shipments are moved by rail, water and truck through the Company’s long-haul distribution network. The Company’s rail network primarily serves its Texas, Florida, Colorado and Gulf Coast markets while the Company’s Bahamas and Nova Scotia locations transport materials via oceangoing ships. The Company’s strategic focus includes expanding inland and offshore capacity and acquiring distribution facilities and port locations to offload transported material. At December 31, 2018, the distribution network available to the Company consisted of 98 distribution facilities. The long-haul distribution network can diversify market risk for locations that engage in long-haul transportation of their aggregates products. Particularly where a producing quarry serves a local market and transports products via rail, water and/or truck to be sold in other markets, the risk of a downturn in one market may be somewhat mitigated by other markets served by the location.
The Company generally acquires contiguous property around existing quarry locations. This property can serve as buffer property or additional mineral reserve capacity, assuming the underlying geology supports economical aggregates mining. In either instance, the acquisition of additional property around an existing quarry allows the expansion of the quarry footprint and extension of quarry life. Some locations having limited reserves may be unable to expand.
A long-term capital focus for the Company, primarily in the midwestern United States due to the nature of its indigenous aggregates supply, is underground limestone aggregates mines. The Company operates 14 active underground mines, located in the Mid-America Group, and is the largest operator of underground limestone aggregate mines in the United States. Production costs are generally higher at underground mines than surface quarries since the depth of the aggregate deposits and the access to the reserves result in higher costs related to development, explosives and depreciation costs. However, these locations often possess transportation advantages that can lead to higher average selling prices than more distant surface quarries.
The Company’s acquisitions and capital projects have expanded its ability to move material by rail. The Company has added additional capacity in a number of locations that can now accommodate larger unit train movements. These expansion projects have enhanced the Company’s long-haul distribution network. The Company’s process improvement efforts have also improved operational effectiveness through plant automation, mobile fleet modernization, right-sizing and other cost control improvements. Accordingly, the Company has enhanced its reach through its ability to provide cost-effective coverage of coastal markets on the east and gulf coasts, as well as geographic areas that can be accessed economically by the Company’s expanded distribution system. This distribution network moves aggregates materials from domestic and offshore sources, via rail and water, to markets where aggregates supply is limited.
As the Company continues to move more aggregates by rail and water, internal freight costs are expected to reduce gross margin. This typically occurs where the Company transports aggregates from a production location to a distribution location by rail or water, and the
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Item 1 - Business ◆ Part I
customer pays a selling price that includes a freight component. Margins are negatively affected because the Company typically does not charge the customer a profit associated with the transportation component of the selling price of the materials. Moreover, the Company’s expansion of its rail-based distribution network, coupled with the extensive use of rail service in the Southeast and West Groups, increases the Company’s dependence on and exposure to railroad performance, including track congestion, crew availability, railcar availability, and locomotive availability, and the ability to renegotiate favorable railroad shipping contracts. The waterborne distribution network, primarily located within the Southeast Group, also increases the Company’s exposure to certain risks, including, among other items, meeting minimum tonnage requirements of shipping contracts, demurrage costs, fuel costs, ship availability and weather disruptions. The Company has long-term agreements with shipping companies to provide ships to transport the Company’s aggregates to various coastal ports.
The Company’s long-term shipping contracts for shipment by water are generally take-or-pay contracts with minimum and maximum shipping requirements. These contracts have varying expiration dates ranging from 2023 to 2027 and generally contain renewal options. However, there can be no assurance that these contracts can be renewed upon expiration or that terms will continue without significant increases. If the Company fails to ship the annual minimum tonnages under the agreement, it is still obligated to pay the shipping company the contractually-stated minimum amount for that year. In 2018, the Company did not incur these freight costs; however a charge is possible in 2019 if shipment volumes do not meet the contractually-stated minimums.
From time to time, the Company has experienced rail transportation shortages, particularly in the Southwest and Southeast. These shortages were caused by the downsizing in personnel and equipment by certain railroads during economic downturns. Historically, in response to these issues, rail transportation providers focused on increasing the number of cars per unit train under transportation contracts and generally required customers, through the freight rate structure, to accommodate larger unit train movements. A unit train is a freight train moving large tonnages of a single bulk product between two points without intermediate yarding and switching. Certain of the Company’s sales yards have the system capabilities to meet the unit train requirements. Over the last few years, the Company has made capital improvements to a number of its sales yards in order to better accommodate unit train unloadings. Rail availability is seasonal and can impact aggregates shipments depending on competing demands for rail service.
More recently some railroads have begun emphasizing Precision Scheduled Railroading(“PSR”), which is focused on minimizing railcar dwell time and utilizing general purpose trains by blending existing train services. The Company does not expect the railroads’ shift to PSR to materially impact its operations in 2019. However, if the railroads do not efficiently execute on this change, it could disrupt shipment volumes for the Company.
From time to time, we have also experienced rail and trucking shortages due to competition from other products. If there are material changes in the availability or cost of rail or trucking services, we may not be able to arrange alternative and timely means to ship our products at a reasonable cost, which could lead to interruptions or slowdowns in our businesses or increases in our costs.
The Company’s management expects the multiple transportation modes that have been developed with various rail carriers and via deep-water ships should provide the Company with the flexibility to effectively serve customers in the Southwest and Southeast coastal markets.
The construction aggregates industry has been consolidating, and the Company has actively participated in the consolidation of the industry. When acquired, new locations sometimes do not satisfy the Company’s internal safety, maintenance and pit development standards, and may require additional resources before benefits of the acquisitions are fully realized. Industry consolidation slowed several years ago as the number of suitable small- to mid-sized acquisition targets in high-growth markets declined. During that period of fewer acquisition opportunities, the Company focused on investing in internal expansion projects in high-growth markets. The number of acquisition opportunities has increased in the last few years as the economy recovered from the protracted recession. Opportunities include public and larger private, family-owned businesses, as well as asset swaps and divestitures from companies executing their strategic plans, rationalizing non-core assets, and repairing financially-constrained balanced sheets. The Company’s Board of Directors and management continue to review and monitor the Company’s strategic long-term plans, which include assessing business combinations and arrangements with other companies engaged in similar businesses, increasing the Company’s presence in its core businesses, investing in internal expansion projects in high-growth markets, and pursuing new opportunities related to the Company’s existing markets.
The Company became more vertically integrated through various acquisitions, including the 2014 TXI acquisition, in the West Group, pursuant to which the Company acquired cement, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and paving construction operations, trucking, and other businesses, which complement the Company’s aggregates operations. The Company reports vertically-integrated operations within the Building Materials business segment, and their results are affected by volatile factors, including fuel costs, operating efficiencies, and weather, to an even greater extent than the Company’s aggregates operations. Liquid asphalt and cement serve as key raw materials in the production of hot mix asphalt and ready mixed concrete, respectively. Therefore, fluctuations in prices for these
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raw materials directly affect the Company’s operating results. During 2018, prices for liquid asphalt were higher than 2017. Liquid asphalt prices may not always follow other energy products (e.g., oil or diesel fuel) because of complexities in the refining process which converts a barrel of oil into other fuels and petrochemical products. We expect the Company’s gross margin to continue to improve for the legacy TXI aggregates-related downstream operations, similar to the pattern experienced at the Colorado aggregates-related downstream operations.
While aggregates-led, the Company continues to review its operational portfolio to determine if there are opportunities to divest underperforming assets in an effort to redeploy capital for other opportunities. The Company also reviews other independent Building Materials operations to determine if they might present attractive acquisition opportunities in the best interest of the Company, either as part of their own independent operations or operations that might be vertically integrated with other operations owned by the Company. Based on these assessments, the Company completed the acquisitions described under General above, which included ready mixed concrete and asphalt and paving businesses in the Denver, Colorado, and San Antonio, Texas, markets. The 2014 business combination with TXI further expanded the Company’s downstream operations with the addition of TXI’s aggregates and ready mixed concrete operations. The TXI combination also added the cement operations, included in the West Group as the cement product line of the Company. The 2016 transactions described under General above further added ready mixed concrete and asphalt and paving operations along the Front Range in Colorado and ready mixed concrete operations in central Texas. The 2018 acquisition of Bluegrass provided the Company an attractive opportunity to acquire the largest privately-held, pure-play aggregates business in the United States.
Environmental and zoning regulations have made it increasingly difficult for the aggregates industry to expand existing quarries and to develop new quarry operations. Although it cannot be predicted what policies will be adopted in the future by federal, state, and local governmental bodies regarding these matters, the Company anticipates that future restrictions will likely make zoning and permitting more difficult, thereby potentially enhancing the value of the Company’s existing mineral reserves.
Management believes the aggregates product line’s raw materials, or aggregates reserves, are sufficient to permit production at present operational levels for the foreseeable future. The Company does not anticipate any material difficulty in obtaining the raw materials that it uses for current production in its aggregates product line. The Company’s aggregates reserves on the average exceed 75 years, based on normalized levels of production. However, certain locations may be subject to more limited reserves and may not be able to expand. Moreover, as noted above, environmental and zoning regulations will likely make it harder for the Company to expand its existing quarries or develop new quarry operations. The Company generally sells its aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt products upon receipt of orders or requests from customers. The Company generally maintains inventories of aggregates products in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements of customers.
Cement Product Line
The cement product line of the Building Materials business produces Portland and specialty cements. Cement is the basic binding agent for concrete, a primary construction material. The principal raw material used in the production of cement is calcium carbonate in the form of limestone. The Company owns more than 600 million tons of limestone reserves adjacent to its two cement production plants in Texas. Similar to aggregates, cement is used in infrastructure projects, nonresidential and residential construction, and the railroad, agricultural, utility and environmental industries. Consequently, the cement industry is cyclical and dependent on the strength of the construction sector.
The Company has a strategic cement position in Texas, with production facilities in Midlothian, Texas, south of Dallas/Fort Worth, and in Hunter, Texas, north of San Antonio. These plants have a combined annual capacity of 4.5 million tons, as well as a current permit that would allow the Company to expand production by up to 800,000 additional tons at the Midlothian plant. In addition to these production facilities, the Company also operates, directly or through third parties, four cement distribution terminals in Texas.
Cement consumption is dependent on the time of year and prevalent weather conditions. According to the Portland Cement Association, nearly two-thirds of U.S. cement consumption occurs in the six months between May and October. Approximately 75% of all cement shipments are sent to ready-mix concrete operators. The rest are shipped to manufacturers of concrete related products, contractors, materials dealers, oil well/mining/drilling companies, as well as government entities.
Energy, including electricity and fossil fuels, accounted for approximately 23% of the cement production cost profile in 2018. Therefore, profitability of the cement product line is affected by changes in energy prices and the available supply of these products. The Company currently has fixed-price supply contracts for coal but also consumes natural gas, alternative fuel and petroleum coke. Further, profitability of the cement product line is also subject to kiln maintenance. This process typically requires a plant to be shut down for a period of time as repairs are made.
The limestone reserves used as a raw material for cement are located on property, owned by the Company, adjacent to each of the cement plants. Management believes that its reserves of limestone are sufficient to permit production at the current operational levels for the foreseeable future.
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Next: Item 1. Business ◆ Part I