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64 • ROCK products • August 2018 www.rockproducts.com the Southeast Group as winter weather and poor railroad performance constrained long-haul shipments to distri- bution yards in Florida and Georgia. Product mix, reduced commercial rail-shipped volumes and various competitive dynamics in portions of Texas offset robust pricing growth in Colorado, resulting in a modest price increase for the West Group. Traditional cold and wet conditions, coupled with railroad inefficiencies, also contributed to the 12.4 percent shipment decline for the Southeast Group and the 4.7 percent decline for the West Group. Mid-America Group shipments decreased 9.9 percent. Summit Materials Reports Revenue Increase Summit Materials Inc. announced results for the first quar- ter 2018. Net revenue increased by 11.9 percent to $289.9 million in the first quarter 2018, versus $259.0 million in the prior-year period. The improvement in net revenue was primarily attributable to acquisition-related contributions in the East and West segments, coupled with organic growth in the West Segment. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, the company reported a basic loss per share of $0.49 on a net loss attrib- utable to Summit Inc. of $53.7 million, compared to a basic loss per share of $0.49 on a net loss attributable to Summit Inc. of $52.4 million in the prior-year period. "While demand fundamentals remain strong in our core markets, weather conditions were challenging during the first quarter, resulting in lower materials sales volumes in the period," stated Tom Hill, CEO of Summit Materials. "Impor- tantly, given the inherent seasonality of our business, the first quarter has a very limited impact on our full-year out- look. Our businesses have strong momentum heading into the start of construction season. For the full-year 2018, we anticipate organic price and volume growth in both aggre- gates and cement. "Heavy materials selling prices are trending higher in our core regional markets," stated Hill. "Organic average selling prices on aggregates increased on a reported and mix-ad- justed basis in the first quarter 2018, with both Houston and Salt Lake City achieving high-single digit organic growth in aggregates selling prices, when compared to the prior-year period. "We anticipate our average realized selling price on cement sold in the Mississippi River corridor will grow in the low- to mid-single-digit percent range in 2018," continued Hill. "As supplies of domestically produced cement continue to tighten, we anticipate price growth could escalate above cur- rent levels in 2019. Cement prices have now risen for six consecutive years in the United States, with no indications of abating. "On a year-to-date basis, we have completed seven acquisi- tions for total invested capital of $154 million," continued Hill. "Recent acquisitions have served to further establish our leadership in well-structured, materials-based markets in Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky and Missouri. The acquisition pipeline remains very active as we look ahead to the remainder of the year, with multiple transac- tions currently in various stages of diligence. "Summit's diesel fuel forward purchase program has helped to mitigate the impact of commodity price volatility within our business, particularly given the recent increase in the price of crude oil-linked hydrocarbon products," stated Brian Harris, CFO of Summit Materials. "Diesel fuel rep- resents our single most significant variable cost each year, with an estimated 30 million gallons consumed annually by our operating companies. Our program, which utilizes physical contracts to pre-purchase a portion of our required diesel fuel volumes up to 12 months in advance, provides visibility into our overall diesel fuel expense each year. To date, we have pre-purchased 62 percent of our current year fuel requirements at an average ultra-low sulfur diesel NYMEX price of less than $1.90 per gal." Aggregates net revenues increased by 9.5 percent to $67.5 million in the first quarter 2018, when compared to the pri- or-year period. Aggregates adjusted cash gross profit margin declined to 41.5 percent in the first quarter, versus 43.6 per- cent in the prior-year period. Organic aggregates sales volumes declined 6.8 percent in the first quarter, due mainly to lower organic aggregates sales volumes in the East Segment, where challenging weather impacted working conditions. Organic average selling prices on aggregates increased 1.6 percent in the first quarter 2018 due to year-over-year improvements in prices within both the West and East segments during the period. Cement segment net revenues declined 14.3 percent to $37.6 million in the first quarter 2018, when compared to the pri- or-year period. Products Business net revenues increased 26.0 percent to $156.2 million in the first quarter 2018, when compared to the prior-year period. Organic sales volumes of ready-mix concrete increased 2.8 percent in the first quarter, while organic average selling prices increased 4.2 percent, versus the prior-year period. As of May 8, 2018, the company has completed seven acqui- sitions on a year-to-date basis, including four transactions that have closed since the company's last quarterly update on Feb. 14, 2018. Total investment spent across the seven acquisitions completed year-to-date 2018 was approxi- mately $154 million, including approximately $34 million Aggregates Industry Almanac Publicly Traded Companies