The aggregate and cement industry is in for a boom, says Ward Nye, chief executive, Martin Marietta.
Speaking about the Martin Marietta’s reported net sales of $3.27 billion for the full year, he says 2017 will be a year of opportunity as federal and state governments work to improve the “disarray” of the nation’s highway system.
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Ward Nye, chief executive, Martin Marietta: “Martin Marietta enters 2017 with the “strongest profitability and cash generation outlook” it’s ever seen[/caption]
Nye says Martin Marietta enters 2017 with the “strongest profitability and cash generation outlook” it’s ever seen. He points to the trillion dollar, 10-year infrastructure plan unveiled by Senate democrats as just a “starting point.”
“We fully expect that the Republican Congress and the president will offer up their own plans,” he told analysts Tuesday.
“However, from our perspective, whatever finally emerges will almost certainly focus on substantial long-term investment in infrastructure.”
“The simple fact is the United States needs to at least double the federal government’s current annual infrastructure investment of approximately $40 billion,” he says, calling it essential “to assure that our nation’s infrastructure never again falls into the disarray with which Americans are now confronted in their daily lives and business.”
2017 could also be a year of growth, as he says the "right acquisitions" are at the top of Martin Marietta's priority list.
“I think you are going to be seeing some transactions coming to the market place, some of which will be relatively large this year," he says. "We don’t think there’s another business in our sector in the US who is better prepared, both from a financial and regulatory perspective, than Martin Marietta is [for deals].
