Martin Marietta Materials CEO Zelnak signals more quarry purchases - Triangle Business Journal:

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That’s the message from Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerStephe P. Zelnak Jr. the day after the firm said that it was spending $65 million to buy three rock quarries and the remaining 49 percengt interest in an existing joint venture from Cemexs Inc. “We’ve got a lot of fire Zelnak told Triangle Business Journal in a phoneinterview “We think this is a good time to be lookingh at acquisitions.” Economic downturns such as the current one can improver the prices on potential The problem, of course, is the ability of interestecd buyers to obtain funding.
Yet Zelnak says his firm stil l has the debt and equity capital resources that would allowe it to spend in excesxsof $500 million if the righft acquisition opportunity came along. Any such deal probably wouldn’t be Zelnak says he sees little opportunity for the company to grow by acquisition inNorth Carolina. The Cemexx deal, which dealt with operations in Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah, addee 100 employees to Martin Marietta’ s roster.
While the company expects to see modest improvementr in the North Carolina transportation construction sector in the secondx half of the year due to federalpstimulus spending, Martin Marietta doesn’t have plans to add employees in the state at this There could be some good news for existinf employees though. Several of the firm’s North Carolina plants have been operating 30 to 32 hours a If the economy picks up in the coming those plants could go back to operating at around 40 hourssper week. In really good times, the plants operatre 50 to 60 hoursa week, Zelna k says.