Including its share of the jointly-owned Texas Lehigh Cement, the turnover of Eagle Materials for the financial year to the end of March was virtually stable, with an increase of 0.7% to US$537.1m. Of the total turnover, cement accounted for 41.3%, plasterboard for 38.1%, plasterboard liner for 12.5% and aggregates & concrete for 8.1%. The trading profit came off by 23.4% to US$60.7m, but corporate overheads increased by 4.9% to US$16.7% and other non-operating expenses more than quadrupled to US$10.7m as a result of writing off expenditure on the Nevada cement plant.

The cement turnover was 1.0% lower at US$221.7m, of which the wholly owned operations registered a 7.4% reduction to US$146.8m, while Eagle Material’s share of the Texas joint venture with HeidelbergCement rose by 14.3% to US$74.9m. The 21.2% reduction in the trading profit to US$45.7m is made up of a 36.6% drop in the wholly-owned operations to US$21.5m and a marginally (0.3%) increased contribution from associate of US$24.3m. Cement deliveries increased by 3.0% to 2.31m tonnes (2.54Mst), made up of a 2.1% volume reduction in the subsidiaries to 1.56Mt (1.72Mst) and a 15.4% advance in the volumes of the Texas joint venture to 0.75Mt (0.82Mst).  Eagle Material’s average cement price over the period was 5.7% lower at US$89.10/t (US$80.83/st), with prices in the final quarter being 0.2% higher at US$90.74/t (US$82.32/st).  The project to modernise the Nevada cement works has been cancelled because of the uncertain economic outlook and tougher environmental regulations.
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