The company shipped 0.81 million short t of cement in 4Q16. Average sales price per short ton also rose from US$102.44 to US$103.94, helping the company to a slight rise in revenues to US$85.4 million.
Over the full year, cement shipments fell from 4.558 million short t to 3.525 million short t. Sales followed a similar trend, going from US$455.4 million in 2015 to US$364 million in 2016. Gross profit was up, however, at US$120 million, compared to US$103.5 million in 2015, helped by a rise in the average selling price from US$98.35 per short t to US$101.96 per short t.
The company also said it had spent US$20.9 million on cement kiln maintenance over the year, which was in line with expectation and included in the cement business results. For 2017, the company expects maintenance costs of US$17.2 million.
The company also said it expected strong growth in cement demand this year going forward.
“With respect to 2017 specifically, we anticipate cement sales to increase 4% in 10% and profitability to increase 8% to 16%,” Ward Nye, Chairman, President and CEO of Martin Marietta, told analysts on a conference call. “At this midpoint, this translates to an estimated US$15 million profitability increase over 2016’s impressive results.
