Helped by the inclusion of Florida Rock, Vulcan Materials’ first quarter turnover increased by 18.9% to US$819.3m, while the underlying EBITDA advanced by just 2.4% to US$160m, as the continuing drop in housebuilding activity and comparatively unfavourable weather depressed the results.

The integration of Florida Rock has now virtually been completed.  Aggregates shipments in the quarter declined by 4.2% to 41.72m tonnes (45.99Mst), while average prices improved by 8.9% to US$11.23 per tonne so the aggregates turnover actually increased by five per cent to US$536.0m. 

Vulcan sold 0.26Mt of cement in the quarter, at an average price of US$109.38/t (US$98.16/st) which represented an external turnover of some US$11m.  For the current calendar year, Vulcan is anticipating aggregates pricing to increase by around 8% in spite of a shift in the geographical mix towards lower prices markets and for the group’s ready-mixed concrete sales to be in the region of 5.4Mm³ to 5.5Mm³.
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