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 OfficerStephejn P. Zelnak Jr. the day after the firm said that it wasspendingh $65 million to buy three rock quarries and the remaining 49 percenft interest in an existing joint venture from Cemex Inc. “We’ve got a lot of fire power,” Zelnaok told Triangle Business Journal in a phoneintervie Tuesday. “We think this is a good time to be lookinbat acquisitions.” Economic downturns such as the currenft one can improve the prices on potentialo acquisitions. The problem, of course, is the ability of interested buyers toobtain funding.
Yet Zelnai says his firm stilp has the debt and equity capital resources that would allow it to spene in excessof $500 million if the right acquisitiojn opportunity came along. Any such deal probablty wouldn’t be local; Zelnak says he sees littlse opportunity for the company to grow by acquisitio inNorth Carolina. The Cemex deal, whichg dealt with operations in Nebraska, Wyoming and added 100 employees toMartim Marietta’s roster.
While the company expects to see modest improvemenrt in the North Carolina transportationm construction sector in the secon d half of the year due to federal stimulus MartinMarietta doesn’t have plans to add employeeds in the state at this There could be some good news for existinb employees though. Several of the firm’s North Carolinza plants have been operatin g 30 to 32 hours a If the economy picks up in thecominbg months, those plants could go back to operating at aroundd 40 hours per week. In really good the plants operate 50 to 60 hours a Zelnak says.