Vulcan Materials Company - Q1 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, and welcome everyone to the Vulcan Materials Company first quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Jamie, and I will be your conference call coordinator today. Please be reminded that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay later today at the company's website. All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. After the company's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Now, I will turn the call over to your host, Mark Warren, Vice President of Investor Relations for Vulcan Materials. Mr. Warren, you may begin.

Mark Warren (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me today are Tom Hill, Chairman and CEO, and Mary Andrews Carlisle, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is accompanied by a press release and a supplemental presentation posted to our website, vulcanmaterials.com. Please be reminded that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks, along with other legal disclaimers, are described in detail in the company's earnings release and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are defined and reconciled in our earnings release, our supplemental presentation, and other SEC filings. During the Q&A, we ask that you limit your participation to one question. This will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during our time we have available. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Mark, and thank all of you for joining our Vulcan Materials earnings call this morning. Our first quarter results moved us towards delivering on a fourth consecutive year of double-digit Adjusted EBITDA growth. Although the weather was unusually cold and wet across many geographies for much of the quarter, our teams executed well and improved our aggregate cash gross profit per ton by 10%. Their commitment to our Vulcan Way of Selling and Vulcan Way of Operating disciplines is driving solid results. In the quarter, we generated $323 million of Adjusted EBITDA and expanded our Adjusted EBITDA margin. Importantly, several key trends continued: pricing momentum, cost deceleration, unit profitability expansion, robust cash generation, disciplined capital allocation, and return on invested capital improvement.

In the Aggregates segment, year-over-year shipments declined by 7%, but the durability of our aggregates business and the consistency of our execution stood out in a weather-impacted quarter. We again improved our trailing twelve months aggregates cash gross profit per ton, pushing it to $9.66 per ton and making further progress toward our current $11-$12 target. The pricing environment remains positive, and year-over-year aggregates cash cost of sales continues to moderate. Aggregates freight-adjusted price improved 10% in the quarter and increased $1.25 per ton sequentially from the fourth quarter. A clear illustration of the success of January increases and the continuous execution of our Vulcan Way of Selling disciplines.

Our first quarter cash cost of sales performance resulted in a fourth consecutive quarter of trailing twelve months cost deceleration and improving sequentially by another 230 basis points. Our relentless focus on improving efficiencies in our plants through our Vulcan Way of Operating disciplines remains a key driver of managing costs, expanding unit profitability, and ultimately generating attractive free cash flow. There is a healthy pipeline of opportunities to deploy this free cash flow for both attractive acquisitions and complementary strategic greenfield development. These targeted opportunities are at varying stages, but as an example, earlier this week, we closed on a bolt-on aggregates and asphalt acquisition in Alabama, a top, top 10 state. I'm proud of how our teams continue to execute our two-pronged growth strategy.

They are focused on expanding our reach in addition to enhancing our core with consistent expansion of unit profitability by controlling what we can control, even in a dynamic macro environment and demand environment. On the demand side, I want to provide a few comments about each end use, starting with private demand and then moving to public. Momentum in single family continues to accelerate across our footprint and points to growth in 2024. However, we continue to expect weaker multifamily residential construction to largely offset the single-family improvement this year. Overall, affordability and elevated interest rates remain a challenge, but the underlying fundamentals of population growth and low inventories in Vulcan markets support the recovery in residential construction. An improving residential backdrop is also a positive sign for future activity in certain categories of non-residential construction, and recent data has shown some signs of stabilization in overall starts.

However, the landscape continues to vary across categories. As expected, continued moderation in warehouse starts will be the biggest headwind to private and non-residential demand this year. Currently, light commercial activity remains weak, but over time, we expect it to follow the positive trends in single-family housing. We continue to see and capitalize on opportunities in the manufacturing category. Our unmatched Southeastern footprint and unique logistics capabilities positions us well to service these large, aggregate-intensive projects. Our footprint is also an advantage on the public side, with over two-thirds of federal highway spending allocated to Vulcan states. Additionally, other public infrastructure activity, which benefits from IIJA funding, is growing faster in Vulcan states than the country as a whole.

A sustained, elevated level of highway starts of over $100 billion, coupled with record 2024 state budgets, supports healthy growth in highway and infrastructure demand, both in 2024 and for the next several years. Now, I'll turn the call over to Mary Andrews for some additional commentary on our first quarter. Mary Andrews?

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Thanks, Tom, and good morning. Tom discussed our solid aggregates results in the quarter and shared some important ongoing trends. In addition to providing a few more details about our first quarter results, I'd like to first expound upon 4 of the trends Tom highlighted early in his remarks: unit profitability expansion, robust cash generation, disciplined capital allocation, and return on invested capital improvements. For the last 4 quarters, we have consistently expanded our trailing twelve months unit profitability in all 3 of our operating segments, increasing cash unit profitability by nearly $1.50 per ton in aggregate, almost $6 per ton in asphalt, and nearly $5 per cubic yard in concrete. Our trailing twelve months gross margin has also steadily improved in each product line.

This organic growth is underpinned by our daily focus on execution and driving results through our Vulcan Way of Selling and Vulcan Way of Operating disciplines. Better unit profitability yields better free cash flow. Our free cash flow conversion over the last five years has averaged over 90%, enabling us to strategically allocate capital to reinvest in our franchise, grow our business, and return cash to shareholders. During the quarter, we invested $103 million in capital expenditures and returned $81 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We continue to expect to spend between $625 million and $675 million on capital expenditures for the full year. Our current balance sheet positions us well to continue to deploy capital to each of our priorities.

At the end of the first quarter, our net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage was 1.5 times, with $300 million of cash on hand following the March 1 redemption of our 2026 senior notes at par for $550 million. Our liquidity position and financial flexibility are competitive strengths as we look to continue to grow and create value for our shareholders. Over the last 12 months, we've achieved a 260 basis points improvement in return on invested capital. Invested capital has increased less than 1%, while adjusted EBITDA has improved 20%. Adjusted EBITDA margin has also improved by 350 basis points through consistent operational execution and disciplined SAG cost management.

SAG expenses in the quarter were in line with our expectations, and we continue to expect to spend between $550 million and $560 million for the full year. Most importantly, we reaffirm our expectations of delivering Adjusted EBITDA between $2.15 billion and $2.3 billion for the full year. At the midpoint, a double-digit year-over-year improvement for a fourth consecutive year. I'll now turn the call back over to Tom to provide a few closing remarks.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Mary Andrews. At Vulcan, our number one priority will always be our people, keeping them safe and fostering our Vulcan culture. They are the foundation of our great company. As a team, we are focused on the daily execution of our Vulcan Way of Selling and Vulcan Way of Operating disciplines to ensure attractive cash generation in any macro backdrop. We will be strategic and disciplined in allocating capital to continue to grow our business and deliver value for our shareholders. And now, Mary Andrews and I will be happy to take your questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. Once again, that is star one to ask a question and star two to remove yourself. We'll take our first question from Stanley Elliott with Stifel.

Stanley Elliott (Analyst)

Hey, good morning, Tom. Good morning, Mary Andrews. Thank you for the question. Tom, nice start to the year, very clean quarter, despite kind of some of the weather issues I think a lot of people had and some of the comp issues. Can you talk about how the rest of the year plays out? Thinking about this more on, like, maybe from a demand standpoint, and then, you know, to any extent, commentary you could share on, on April would be great.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Sure. You know, looking at the quarter itself, I'd call the quarter, volumes in the quarter as expected, with a margin of error. We had less shipping days in March, but about the same amount of shipping days in the quarter overall. January was a slow start, really due to wet weather and cold weather. February and March, I'd call a bit better on a daily shipping basis. So Q1, all things considered, as expected. As we look forward to the rest of the year, Stanley, I don't see any real change in our thinking on demand. We'd still guide to the flat to down 4, and the dynamics are very similar to what we said last quarter, headwinds and non-residential, some challenges in multifamily. We've got recovering single-family construction and growing public demand.

I think that our position, our superior position in the Southeast really helps. The footprint makes a difference, and that Southeastern market is probably the healthiest market in the country. I think our Vulcan Way of Selling disciplines and tools are very helpful with this. So at this point, I'd call it confident from a volume outlook. You know, as far as, going into the second quarter, I'd call it this way: when the sun comes out, we're shipping very well.

Stanley Elliott (Analyst)

Great, guys. That's nice to hear. Thanks so much, and best of luck.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Thanks, team.

Operator (participant)

We'll go next to Jordan Bettenhausen with Truist Securities.

Jordan Bettenhausen (Analyst)

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I'm on for Keith Hughes this morning. I'm curious about your outlook on mid-year pricing. Have you had any conversations with your customers about mid-years? And I'm also wondering how much of that is baking to your guide.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I would start off with saying that, I think the fundamentals in pricing remain very good and very healthy. As you saw, we had a solid start in Q1, with prices a little north of 10%. That was really across every market. And so it's a really good start and supports our full-year guidance. Mid-year price increases are not in our guidance at this point. We're having those mid-year price discussions right now, so it's a little too early to call. Remember that mid-years will be good for 2024, but they're gonna be even better for 2025. So our teams are working really hard on this, and I think I'm sure they'll deliver. The most important thing, though, I think, is that the fundamentals for pricing remain very healthy.

I think when it comes to midyears, we'll revisit pricing guidance in August and give you an update.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

One more thought on price. You know, we always like to point out how important it is to remember that regardless of what the level of pricing is, the key is really how much price we're able to take to the bottom line. In the first quarter, we achieved 10% improvement in cash gross profit per ton and some aggregate margin expansion, even given the lower volume quarter due to the weather. Overall, gross margin also improved by 140 basis points, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded as well. So importantly, you know, we expect this margin expansion to continue and to improve further through the balance of the year.

Jordan Bettenhausen (Analyst)

Perfect. Thanks for the color.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Anthony Pettinari with Citi.

Anthony Pettinari (Analyst)

Good morning.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Good morning.

Anthony Pettinari (Analyst)

I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about how costs have kind of been trending among your major cost categories. You know, if you can touch on maybe some of the non-energy categories, and then also just with higher diesel, you know, how that's impacted conversations around price increases or just how you think about the full year from that context.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think the first quarter for cost is always tricky, as volumes and weather definitely had an impact on cost in the first quarter. That said, I think we're still comfortable with the cost guidance of up mid-single digit for the full year. As always, we would get you to look at cost on a trailing twelve-month basis because it could be choppy on a quarter to quarter. And if you look back on a trailing twelve-month basis over the last year, cost increases have fallen from, I'd say, mid-teens to single digit. So as we said in the prepared remarks, we've seen four quarters of decelerating costs, and as we march through this year, we should see that those increases decline as we march through the year.

Next quarter better, next quarter better, next quarter better, as we saw over the last four quarters. So I think we're on a good path to that mid-single-digit cost for the full year. As far as, you know, different pieces of this, diesel was probably a slight tailwind in the quarter. What stays up is parts and services remain elevated, but our comps are getting easier. And I think that, you know, we also, through the Vulcan Way of Operating, we're improving our operating efficiencies, and we'll continue over the next two years with that to offset those inflated parts and services. So I think we're in a good place, and I think the teams are working through this, and I'm pleased with what I see.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Yeah, and in terms of diesel, Anthony, you know, we do assume in our plan that it'll move somewhat higher through the rest of the year. And you're, you know, you're right. While diesel prices for us, you know, well, they're always hard to predict and, but they can really be a good thing in this business, since we have the ability to catch it with, with pricing as it goes up, and also take advantage of it when it goes down.

Anthony Pettinari (Analyst)

Got it. Got it. That, that's very helpful. I'll turn it over.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Good morning, Kathryn.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Kathryn Thompson (Analyst)

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question today. Stepping back, just looking at the bigger picture, in last year, you divested mainly downstream ops, just in terms of, you know, optimizing your portfolio. As you look into 2024 and beyond, what are your priorities in terms of overall Vulcan Materials and product mix?

... How does this mix strategy, how do you think about that in against the backdrop of a broad reindustrialization of the U.S. and putting Vulcan in the, the best position possible? Thank you.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Well, as always, we would tell you that it's aggregates, and we are an aggregates company. We, you know, we have the highest percentage of EBITDA in aggregates of probably anybody in the sector, and that's what we do. Now, we have strategic downstream and, you know, as we always say, it's a portfolio. We look at it as a portfolio, and if one of those sectors or geographies doesn't earn appropriate return or is worth some more to somebody else, we'll divest of it and plow that money back into our aggregates business. So, you know, I think that nothing's changed as far as how we look at the world. And, you know, as we look at the growth part of it, M&A and greenfields, it will be aggregates focused.

Kathryn Thompson (Analyst)

Okay. Thank you so much.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll turn now to Trey Grooms with Stephens.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hi, Trey.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Good morning.

Trey Grooms (Analyst)

Hey, good morning. I kind of want to follow up on the comment, Mary Andrews, you had earlier about cash gross profit per ton. Now, clearly, it was up 10% in the quarter. I think you were maybe initially looking for mid- to high single-digit improvements, so maybe a little better there. And then full year's mid, I think, looking for mid-teens type of improvement. So I guess the first one is kind of, you know, how we see that progress. I think it's going to accelerate somewhat as we go through the year, but any way to help us kind of think about that, you know, as we progress through the year to get to that mid-teens for the full year.

Then maybe second, stepping back a little bit longer term, you know, these are clearly better numbers of better performance than the historical kind of average of profitability improvement. How are you thinking about that longer term? Do you think it has the opportunity to kind of see a, you know, long-term, better kind of consistent improvement versus kind of historicals?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, let me take your last question first about long term. This is why we have developed the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating disciplines. I think they secure our ability to improve cash gross profit per ton, which we've done, you know, on a trailing twelve-month basis every quarter, except for one flat for five years. That's pretty good consistency, even with some of the dynamics that are out there.

So I think that overall in history, we're in a better, versus history, we're in a better place for higher improvements in cash gross profit per ton, and that's not by accident, that's by design, and we've been working on that now for years, and it is working, and those tools are only getting better, or we're getting better at implementing them. I think as far as this year is concerned, as we talked about, as we progress through the year, you've got cost increases decelerating, and as, as inflation, comps get easier and our operating efficiencies get better. So that's one piece of that. And then I think as we march through the year, we have the ability to continue to raise prices, both in, both in, in what's we do on project work, but also fixed plant.

You put all that together, I think, as we progress through the year, we have the opportunity to continue to march our unit margins improvement through the year.

Trey Grooms (Analyst)

Okay, got it. All right. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

We'll go next to Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hi, Jerry.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Jerry Revich (Analyst)

Hey. Hi, Tom, Mary Andrews, Mark. Good morning, everyone. I'm wondering if you could just talk about how you expect the pricing cadence to play out this year over the past couple of years, you know, third quarter versus second quarter, we saw a big, you know, $0.60 type step up in pricing. Is that—feels like that's what you're assuming this year to get to the guidance, but maybe Mary Andrews, you could expand on how you expect the cadence to play out and how much higher could that be if we do implement mid-year price increases? Thank you.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Yeah, sure. I, I would expect a cadence of, Jerry, likely some sequential growth in the second quarter, more in the third quarter, as you referenced, and then, you know, we would typically see less in the fourth quarter, you know, due mostly to seasonality. You know, the magnitude of the mid-years, which, you know, as Tom referenced earlier, it's just too early to call at this point, but that's, you know, what would influence, you know, that third quarter sequential improvement and to what level that gets and, and where we fall out, overall.

Jerry Revich (Analyst)

Okay. And then in terms of just the exit rate with the double-digit pricing growth, exiting the year and potential midyears on top of it, I guess that suggests the starting point for 25 should be in the high single digit pricing range, just from a carryover effect. And I just want to make sure that that's consistent with how you folks are thinking about it.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think when it comes to midyears, we, we're gonna call that when we earn it. And I think we feel good about midyears, and I think it's those conversations are going fine. As far you know, as I said, they mean a lot for 2025. I do think it's a bit early to call what 2025 is going to start out at. We got to get midyears under our belt and take a look at what we're going to do the first part of 2025. But I do think that I feel good about the midyears, and I think it is a good omen for 2025 pricing.

Jerry Revich (Analyst)

Okay. Thank you.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

Next, we'll hear from Mike Dahl with RBC Capital Markets.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Mike.

Mike Dahl (Managing Director)

Hey, Tom, Mary Andrews, thanks for taking the question. I'm gonna follow up again on, on kind of midyear. I think last quarter, you, you talked about how those conversations would be April conversations, so maybe it's just semantics and, and you want to have those really finalized before you communicate to us. But I, I'm wondering if just, you know, given some of the wet weather to start the year, if some of those conversations perhaps got pushed out a little bit relative to your expectations, or how you'd characterize that, and, and any other kind of regional differences in, in pricing that you may be experiencing relative to what you thought coming into the year?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

You know, I don't think weather had anything to do with it. I think you may have read a little bit too much into the April month comment. You send the letters out in April, you spend May having those conversations, and you finalize them end of May, kind of beginning of June. So I don't see anything different in timing or sequencing versus, you know, what we did last year. Like I said, I think I'm encouraged by the conversations that we're having. And I think that we will implement a solid mid-year price increases. But I wouldn't read anything into the comment on weather versus, excuse me, the comment on April versus how this goes. It's really kind of a process.

We introduce it in April, have the conversations in May, and again, finalize it in June.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

One other thought on pricing for the rest of the year is that, you know, we've had positive momentum over the last 12 months in our bid work. And that should also be, you know, a good catalyst for us from where we ended Q1 to where we expect to be for the full year, in addition to whatever's realized on mid-year increases.

Mike Dahl (Managing Director)

Okay, great. Thanks for that.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Garik Shmois with Loop Capital.

Garik Shmois (Analyst)

Oh, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to ask on the M&A environment, if you could provide a little bit more color on the bolt-on that you just completed. And is it possible at all to maybe size how much you anticipate spending on acquisitions this year and the types of deals you're looking at?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. As you saw, we had a small but strategic bolt-on, kind of northeast of Birmingham, up toward Guntersville. It's about 2,000,000 tons of aggregates and just under 500,000 tons of asphalt. Fits us well. I think as you look at the full year, the next 12 months, M&A outlook is quite good, so more to come. And I'm, you know, having a lot of those conversations and very encouraged by it. I think, as always, M&A will be aggregates led and conducted with discipline, but we, I think we feel very confident that this will be a busy M&A year for us.

Garik Shmois (Analyst)

Okay, very good. Thank you.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Now we'll go to David MacGregor with Longbow Research.

David MacGregor (Analyst)

Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Tom, I guess I wanted to kind of tap your many years of experience in this business with respect to the second half of this year in election years. In an election year, do you find that projects kind of accelerate as people kind of focus on, you know, pork? Or do you think things maybe slow down a little bit as people get a little more tentative and wait to see how the election plays out? I'm just trying to get a sense of how you're thinking about the risk around second half volumes in public sector spending.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

I don't see. I'm gonna take it in pieces. Overall, I don't see any impact with election year on our demand. I think that our guidance is taking, it's taking the factors into account. I don't think election year moves the needle on that. I think on the public side, it is really the DOTs trying to get highways, highway dollars into lettings and into projects, and I think that's happening. I think we call that, as you know, mid-single digit. On the private side, I think, as we said, you got some challenges on non-res and multi, and I think that single family is recovering with health. So, that's how I look at it, with not much impact from the election year.

David MacGregor (Analyst)

All right. Thanks very much.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Next, we have Timna Tanners with Wolfe Research.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Morning, Timna.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Timna Tanners (Analyst)

Hey, good morning. Thanks a lot. Wanted to ask about a little bit more on the demand side as well. How is the government infrastructure dollars, how are they flowing through? How are you seeing the pace of that activity? Any evidence of some of those larger IRA projects and any sign that data centers could make much of a dent against the decline in warehouse demand? Thanks.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. I will start with highways. We're seeing the IIJA money and the local funds flow into lettings. At this point, we'd stick with that mid-single digit growth on the public side this year, which is both, you know, non-highway infrastructure and highways. We see that kind of steady growth for years to come. We're also are seeing additional state funding come into play. We got three states with some big, big dollars. Tennessee added $3 billion. Florida, I think, added $4 billion, and Georgia just added $1.5 billion dollars to their funding. I think when it comes to public demand, slow and steady wins the race on this, and particularly when you're compounding your margins like we are.

I think, you know, a good, healthy sector with steady growth for years to come, and I think the DOTs will continue to work hard to get those dollars into lettings.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

And Timna, you also mentioned, data centers, which have, you know, really provided some good opportunities for us in some markets. I can think of some projects we've booked recently in Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, and it's obviously a subject that's getting a lot of press. But I do, I do think it's important to remember that the square footage, according to Dodge, for data centers, is only a low single-digit percentage of total non-res start. So, you know, as you know, there are a lot of different categories and dynamics in private non-res. So data centers may not move the needle, overall, but overall for us and non-res, right now, you know, so far it's playing out as we expected, with kind of all those different dynamics.

Timna Tanners (Analyst)

Okay. Helpful, I'll leave it there. Thanks again.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Tyler Brown with Raymond James.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Tyler.

Tyler Brown (Analyst)

Good morning.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Tyler Brown (Analyst)

Hey, so y'all are doing a great job on unit margins, but I am curious what you're seeing on the plant productivity side. Because if I go back on to the Vulcan Way of Operating, some of the technology rollouts in the plants that you talked about at the Analyst Day, I'm just kind of curious how those are tracking, if you're seeing improved plant utilization, and is that kind of a continued good guide into 25?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think that where we are on that, and you're talking about the Process Intelligence on those plants. As we said, you know, we did that in our top 100 plants, which is about 70% of our – roughly 70% of our production. The tools are all there. About 25%, 30% of those plants are actually fully utilizing those tools, and there's a lot of work that has to go into that to get the screens right and everybody trained. In those, we're seeing marked progress. As we march through kind of this year, maybe the first part of next year, we'll get up to 100% of those, but. And as we do, we'll see improvement.

So, where it's working, I think it's working well, maybe a little slower than I would have wanted it to go through as far as full implementation, but we're getting there, and I think we'll see that. As you said, we'll see, we'll see progress of that show up in our numbers in 2024 and in 2025, and into 2026, to be honest with you. So, you know, so far so good, and we'll keep plugging at it.

Tyler Brown (Analyst)

Yep. Perfect. Thank you.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Now we'll hear from Adam Thalhimer with Thompson Davis.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Adam.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Adam Thalhimer (Analyst)

Morning, guys. Great quarter!

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Thank you.

Adam Thalhimer (Analyst)

Hey, on the demand side, I guess I wanted to hit that as well. There's a lot of angst out there about just private construction demand in general. Are you guys seeing any incremental weakness or strength there?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Well, I think it kind of depends on which part of it you're talking about. I'll take them a piece at a time. We're seeing, you know, on the non-res side, you've got weakness in, you know, warehouses and kind of traditional light non-res. That being said, the warehouses, if you look at starts, they are decelerating. The fall is decelerating. It's getting better as you look at starts on a short-term basis. So hopefully that will get better. You've got strength in large manufacturing projects, which, you know, which we've got 11 of those big projects, and we're shipping on them now, and I think more to come.

So, you know, it's too early to call whether it's getting better or getting worse, but we'll – well, that's kind of how we call it for on the non-res side. On the highways – excuse me, on housing, I would tell you the weakness is in multifamily and continues that. I think that doesn't last too long. We'll be past that, I think, in 2025. And then, you know, single family res is recovering, and I think recovering with some momentum.

Adam Thalhimer (Analyst)

Sounds pretty good. Thanks, Tom.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Phil Ng with Jefferies.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Phil.

Phil Ng (Analyst)

Hey, guys.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Hi, Phil.

Phil Ng (Analyst)

Congrats on a really strong quarter.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Phil Ng (Analyst)

I had a question. I mean, a competitor of yours just closed on a deal in the Southeast, and they've already announced price increases for midyears in those markets and called out how pricing there is perhaps below their corporate average. I've always thought of the Southeast as actually a pretty good pricing market. Do you see that dynamic, you know, improving the backdrop on pricing, anything on the structure side of things? And then similarly, California, I think pricing still kind of below what that market probably should warrant, just given the cost and demand profile. Any thoughts on the momentum on pricing around California as well?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think we've got to be thoughtful when we call out pricing on individual markets. But that being said, the Southeast is very good pricing, some of the best we have. And I think that if you look at the Western part of the United States, I think we're seeing a marked improvement in pricing, and we'll continue. That momentum will continue.

Phil Ng (Analyst)

Okay. Appreciate the call.

Operator (participant)

Now we'll go to Angel Castillo with Morgan Stanley.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Morning.

Angel Castillo (Analyst)

Hi.

Mary Andrews Carlisle (SVP and CFO)

Morning.

Angel Castillo (Analyst)

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to maybe expand a little bit on some of the dynamics. First, just a quick clarifier. For pricing, is the assumption still 10%-12%, given the kind of unchanged top line? And then you mentioned, you know, kind of no impact from election year. Could you maybe talk about some of the other dynamics that are at play here in terms of, you know, the weakness you're seeing in non-resi and the just interest rate environment and kind of, you know, some of those challenges? Is that having any kind of impact on your midyears? It sounds like the discussions there have been quite constructive. So just any kind of color there would be helpful.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think, you know, you're seeing improvement. We're seeing improvement in single family, which is always helpful. I think the most important thing is that you see growth in public demand, which is still visible and it is a very good foundation for pricing. I don't know that interest rates have had a big impact on pricing. Obviously, they've had impacts on demand and volumes, but I think, and I don't think that the election year has had any impact on pricing dynamics. So I think that the fact that we've got strong, very visible public demand for a long time is good. I think you've got some improvement in res.

All that is helping the pricing dynamics, and I think we feel pretty good about our midyear at this point.

Angel Castillo (Analyst)

Very helpful. Thank you.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We'll go now to Michael Dudas with Vertical Research.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Morning.

Michael Dudas (Analyst)

Good morning, Mary Andrews. Mark, Tom.

Operator (participant)

Good morning.

Michael Dudas (Analyst)

So, yeah, I have an interesting highlight on 67% of the IIJA dollars are going to the Vulcan states. So you can talk a little bit about what states is that matching up with some of the DOT budgets in some of your important states, and what it may be throughout the business? What regions or states maybe are lagging a bit that may have some opportunity to catch up, as we move into the next several quarters?

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Well, I think, you know, a big part of that is you got the big DOTs, Caltrans and TxDOT and Georgia DOT and Virginia, obviously, and Tennessee obviously have excellent funding, both state and local. I think that, you know, probably the most, the best DOT is best at getting money to at this point because they started earlier with their own funding is Texas. You know, Georgia had some struggles, but I think is catching up with that. So and I think Caltrans is doing a good job getting their money in. Illinois, I think, has struggled getting some of their funding out, so that's how I call it. But I think they're all plugging at it, and I think they're all getting better at it. And it's coming through with improvement in lettings.

I think that, you know, all of them are going through this 2025 budgeting right now, a little too early to call, but, I don't see them going down. I would expect most of them to go up. So, as we said, I think that it's a long road. I think it's steady growth in public, and, and it's not just highways, it's also the infrastructure, which is ports and airports and water and sewage, and that'll be substantial growth, I think, this year and for years to come.

Michael Dudas (Analyst)

Thank you, Tom.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

At this time, that will conclude our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the call back over to Tom Hill, Chief Executive Officer, for any additional or closing comments.

J. Thomas Hill (Chairman and CEO)

I thank all of you for your time this morning and your interest and support of Vulcan Materials Company. We hope you and your families are healthy and safe and stay that way through the quarter, and we look forward to talking to you over the next few months. Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at this time.