Eagle Materials Inc. is a leading supplier of construction products, building
materials, and materials used for oil and natural gas extraction. Our construction
products are used in residential, industrial, commercial and infrastructure
construction and include cement, slag, concrete and aggregates. Our building
materials are sold into similar markets and include gypsum wallboard. Our basic
materials used for oil and natural gas extraction include frac sand and oil
well cement.
The Company was founded in 1963 as a building materials subsidiary of Centex
Corporation (“Centex”), and we operated as a public company under
the name Centex Construction Products, Inc. from April 1994 to January 30, 2004,
at which time Centex completed a tax-free distribution of its shares in EXP
to its shareholders.
We sell cement in six regional markets, including northern Nevada and California,
the greater Chicago area, the Rocky Mountain region, the Central Plains region
and Texas, and we sell slag in the greater Chicago, Illinois area and the greater
Midwest area. We have three concrete and aggregates businesses, serve the areas
immediately surrounding Austin, Texas, the greater Kansas City area and north
of Sacramento, California. Gypsum wallboard is distributed throughout the U.S.
with particular emphasis in the geographic markets nearest to our production
facilities. We also operate a recycled paperboard business which sells internally
to our wallboard business as well as to external customers. Oil well cement
and frac sand are sold into shale deposit zones across the United States.
Our products are commodities that are essential in commercial and residential
construction, public construction projects, projects to build, expand and repair
roads and highways and in natural gas and oil extraction. Demand for these products
is generally cyclical and seasonal, depending on economic and geographic conditions.
Our operations are geographically diverse, providing us with regional economic
diversification. The markets for our cement and slag products are more regional
due to the low value-to-weight ratio of cement and slag, which generally limit
shipments by truck to a 150 mile radius of the plants and up to 300 miles by
rail. Our cement companies focus on the U.S. heartland in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri,
Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada, as well as the Chicago, Illinois
metropolitan area. Slag is ground in the greater Chicago, Illinois area and
sold primarily in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota and Kansas.
Our concrete and aggregates are more local as our operations serve the areas
immediately surrounding Austin, Texas, the greater Kansas City area and north
of Sacramento, California. Demand for cement, concrete and aggregates may fluctuate
more widely because local and regional markets and economies can be more sensitive
to changes than the national market, as well as being more susceptible to seasonal
impact due to adverse weather.
Our gypsum wallboard and paperboard operations are more national in scope and
shipments of wallboard and paper are made throughout the continental U.S., except
for the northeast, and therefore are more impacted by national trends. Frac
sand is currently sold into shale deposit zones across the United States. Demand
for oil and gas proppants is impacted primarily by rig counts and well completion
activity.
Our goal, through continuous improvement, is to be the lowest cost producer
in each of the markets in which we compete. As such, we will continue to focus
on reducing costs and improving our operations, recognizing that being a low
cost producer is a key to our success.
Drilling and completion activity for oil and gas declined during calendar 2015,
primarily due to the decrease in oil and gas prices during the year. The decline
in oil prices adversely impacted drilling activity, which reduced demand for
our frac sand products and oil well cement.
We currently have five different business segments, which are Cement, Concrete
and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, Recycled Paperboard and Oil and Gas Proppants.