Texas Industries: commissioning delays in California
In its first half of its financial year to the end of November, Texas Industries managed to improve its turnover by 2.8% to US$531.9m. The results, however, were considerably distorted by exceptional items and declined by 19.3% to US$68.7m at the pre-tax level, in spite of the elimination of net interest payments because of the capitalisation of the interest expense incurred on the investment in the cement production facilities both in California and in Texas. Delays in the commissioning process of the new 2.1Mta works (2.3sMt) in California suggest that the design capacity will now only be reached in June, rather than during May as originally intended.
The cement prices achieved by Texas Industries were off by an average 0.4% to US$103.918/t (US$94.279 per short ton), in part reflecting a different max, but a US$10 per short ton price increase should become effective in Texas by April. Cement shipments were 0.7% lower at 2.37Mt (2.61sMt), with lower cement demand in California translating into reduced import volumes. Group ready-mixed concrete deliveries rose by 4.5% to 1.57Mm³ (2.0m cubic yards) and prices improved by 7.9%. The aggregates volume declined by 5.2% to 10.36Mt (11.41m short tons), but the average price rose by 8.5%.
Published under Cement News
