Martin Marietta Materials · Risk factors

T1Demand for our construction materials is inherently cyclical and may decline or become more volatile due to economic and political uncertainty, elevated interest rates and inflation, reduced housing affordability, lower private nonresidential investment, or tightening credit conditions that delay, downsize, or cancel projects. Our products are used in public infrastructure projects, which include the construction, maintenance and improvement of highways, streets, roads, bridges, schools and similar projects. Public infrastructure activity depends on federal, state, and local budgets and letting schedules. Changes in fuel-tax or other alternative financing, prolonged federal budget disputes or government shutdowns or other factors can reduce, defer, cap, suspend, or reprioritize transportation spending. The level and timing of federal, state or local transportation or infrastructure or public projects funding, including any issues arising from such budgets, particularly in our Building Materials business’ top ten revenue-generating states of Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, California, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona, Iowa and Minnesota, can have an adverse impact on our business and construction projects that we supply.

We sell most of our aggregates (our primary business) and our cement products to the construction industry and, therefore, our results depend on that industry’s strength. Because our businesses depend on construction spending, which can be cyclical, our profits are sensitive to national, regional and local economic conditions and the intensity of the underlying spending on aggregates and cement products. Construction spending is affected by economic conditions, changes in interest rates, inflation, employment levels, demographic and population shifts, and changes in construction budgets by federal, state and local governments. Further, delays or cancellations of projects in the nonresidential and residential construction markets, which combined accounted for 58% of aggregates shipments in 2025, could occur if companies and consumers are unable to obtain financing for construction projects or if consumer confidence continues to be eroded or affected by economic uncertainty.

In addition, reductions in defense spending and declines in energy-related construction could lower demand in certain markets and adversely affect our business. A portion of our aggregates and downstream shipments is tied to construction activity funded by, or adjacent to, U.S. Department of Defense installations and to private energy-related projects. If federal defense budgets are reduced, appropriations are delayed, base realignments occur or military construction and related projects are deferred or canceled, construction activity on or near affected installations may slow, resulting in lower shipments and increased pricing pressure in the surrounding local markets. Similarly, energy-sector cyclicality can materially impact construction demand, particularly in Texas and other energy-intensive regions.

While our business operations cover a wide geographic area, our earnings depend on the strength of the local economies in which we operate due to the high cost to transport our products relative to their selling price. If economic conditions and construction spending decline significantly in one or more areas, particularly in our Building Materials business’ top ten revenue-generating states, our shipments profitability could be adversely affected.

Aggregates pricing is set locally and is sensitive to supply-demand conditions within each market. A broad decline in construction activity or shifts in project timing can reduce shipment volumes and intensify price competition. Lower volumes can also negatively impact fixed-cost absorption and prompt competitors or customers to seek price concessions, leading to further pricing pressure. Pricing could deteriorate due to one or more of the following, alone or in combination:

Reduced demand across residential, nonresidential, or public infrastructure markets;

Delays or deferrals of bid lettings;

Excess industry capacity in a local market, new market entrants, imports or long-haul supply;

Product and geographic mix shifting towards lower-value stone, shorter haul lengths or smaller jobs;

Changes in specifications that reduce value differentiation;

Contract structures that limit or delay price adjustments, particularly when input costs remain elevated;

Inability to pass through increases in delivered costs on a timely or complete basis, resulting in price-cost spread compression.

There is no assurance that market prices will stabilize or improve when demand recovers. Prolonged or widespread price declines, especially if accompanied by reduced shipments, could lower margins and cash flows, reduce returns on invested capital, negatively affect the carrying value of long-lived assets or goodwill, limit capital available for growth and increase the risk of not meeting financial covenants.

The heavy-side construction business is conducted outdoors. Accordingly, our production, distribution, and customer demand are affected by seasonal weather patterns and adverse weather. Adverse weather conditions, including hurricanes and tropical storms, extreme temperatures, snow, heavy or sustained rainfall, wildfires and earthquakes, reduce construction activity, restrict the demand for our products and impede our ability to efficiently transport material. Severe events can close or damage transportation networks or constrain logistics capacity, slowing our ability to move materials and increasing delivered costs. Adverse weather conditions also increase our costs and reduce our production output as a result of power loss, needed plant and equipment repairs, time required to remove water from flooded operations and similar events.

Severe drought conditions can restrict available water supplies and constrain production. Production and shipment levels of the Building Materials business’ products follow activity in the construction industry, which typically is strongest in the spring, summer and fall. Because of the weather’s effect on the construction industry’s activity, the production and shipment levels for our Building Materials business, including all of our aggregates-related downstream operations, vary by quarter. The second and third quarters are generally subject to heavy precipitation, and, thus, are more profitable if precipitation is lighter. The first and fourth quarters, which are subject to the impacts of winter weather, are generally the least profitable, but can be more profitable if the impact of winter weather is less severe.

Our operations in coastal markets near the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Coast and in The Bahamas are exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms, while our California operations face risks from Pacific storms, wildfires, mudslides and water use restrictions during periods of severe drought. The physical impacts described above may be exacerbated by the effects of climate change over time.

Our ability to sustain and grow the business depends on replacing depleting reserves with quality aggregates deposits that we can mine economically, with appropriate permits, near either growing markets or long-haul transportation corridors that can economically serve applicable markets. Quality deposits that meet customer specifications are increasingly difficult to secure near growing markets due to competing land uses, zoning and land-use restrictions, and community opposition. We try to meet this challenge by identifying and permitting sites prior to economic expansion, buying more land around our existing quarries to increase our mineral reserves, developing underground mines, and expanding a distribution network that transports aggregates products by various methods, including rail and water.

Even when deposits are identified, we may be unable to obtain or renew necessary land-use approvals, environmental permits, or other governmental authorizations on acceptable terms or timelines, or at all. If we are unable to timely replace reserves accessible to our markets, obtain or maintain required permits and approvals, secure necessary property and access rights on acceptable terms, or economically transport materials to demand centers, our ability to serve customers and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

We expect to continue to pursue acquisitions, joint ventures, leaseholds, licenses and other strategic transactions to strengthen our existing locations, expand our operations and enter new geographic markets. The success of this strategy depends on our ability to identify, evaluate, negotiate, finance, close, and integrate opportunities on acceptable terms and timelines. Suitable targets may be scarce and sellers may prefer structures or terms that increase complexity or risk. There is no assurance that we will identify opportunities that meet our return thresholds or that, if completed, such transactions will generate expected cash flows or strategic benefits within anticipated time frames.

Proposed acquisitions are subject to risks and uncertainties before closing. Our diligence may not identify all risks, including environmental liabilities, geologic or reserve quality, title, access constraints, water or power availability, legacy tax or legal exposures, labor and workforce issues, or cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Transactions may require antitrust and other regulatory approvals and could be delayed, conditioned, or prohibited. Required divestitures or other remedies can reduce expected benefits. Target businesses may depend on permits, licenses, mineral or water rights, easements, leases, or other approvals that must be transferred, renewed, or re-issued; these processes can be uncertain, time-consuming and costly. Volatile debt and equity market conditions, interest-rate movements, and changes in our credit ratings can affect the availability and cost of financing.

We may finance transactions with cash, debt, equity or a combination of such consideration. Using our common stock – whether as acquisition consideration or for related capital raises – can dilute existing shareholders and cause the price of our stock to decline, and market volatility between signing and closing can affect the value delivered to sellers or the economics of the transaction. Debt financing increases interest expense and financial leverage and may reduce flexibility under our debt covenants and capital-allocation priorities. Joint ventures and minority investments can involve governance constraints, differing strategic objectives or disputes that limit our ability to direct operations or realize benefits.

We have a successful history of business acquisitions and combinations and integration of these businesses into our heritage operations. However, in connection with the integration of any other business that we acquire, there is a risk that we will not be able to achieve such integration in a successful manner or on the time schedule we have projected or in a way that will achieve the level of synergies, cost savings or operating efficiencies we forecast from the acquisition. Integration requires the alignment of cultures, safety and operating practices, internal controls, information technology and cybersecurity, procurement, logistics networks, and sales and pricing processes. We may not realize our expected cost or revenue strategies due to customer or supplier reactions, regulatory or permitting limits, or market changes.

Any significant business acquisition or combination we might choose to undertake may require that we devote significant management attention and resources to preparing for and then integrating our business practices and operations. Based on our history, we believe we will be successful in this integration process. Nevertheless, we may fail to realize some of the anticipated benefits of any potential acquisition or other business combination that we pursue in the future if the integration process takes longer or is more costly than expected. Potential difficulties we may encounter in the integration process include the following:

inability to successfully combine operations in a manner that permits us to achieve the synergies anticipated to result from the proposed acquisition or business combination, which would result in the anticipated benefits of the acquisition or business combination not being realized partly or wholly in the anticipated time frame or at all;

inability to retain key employees or align cultures, compensation, safety practices, and operating disciplines, which can impair performance;

adverse reactions from customers or suppliers, including loss of business, pricing pressure, or renegotiation of terms, as well as change-of-control, consent, or exclusivity provisions that restrict our ability to integrate or rationalize product and customer portfolios;

dependencies on transition services arrangements and the timely separation and migration of enterprise systems, ERPs, and data;

delays or defects in information technology integration, cybersecurity controls, or data privacy compliance can disrupt operations, increase costs, or expose us to cyber incidents;

challenges transferring, renewing, or aligning permits, licenses, mineral or water rights, leases, easements, and other approvals;

site-specific environmental, geologic, or title conditions may limit operating plans or increase capital and operating costs;

complexities associated with managing the combined operations;

integration of personnel;

creation of uniform standards, internal controls, procedures, policies and information systems;

discovery of previously unknown liabilities and unforeseen increased expenses, delays or regulatory issues associated with integrating the remaining operations; and performance shortfalls at business units as a result of the diversion of management attention caused by completing the remaining integration of the operations.

In pursuing our business strategy, we conduct discussions, evaluate opportunities and enter into acquisition and divestiture agreements. Transaction activity involves execution, regulatory, and operational risks that could reduce or delay expected benefits or create additional costs and liabilities:

we may not obtain required regulatory approvals and/or required financing on favorable terms;

we may not be able to satisfy closing conditions;

we may not realize a satisfactory return on our investment;

we may not be able to retain key personnel of acquired businesses;

we may experience difficulty in integrating new employees, business systems and technology;

our due diligence process may not identify compliance issues or other liabilities that are in existence at the time of our acquisition;

we may not be able to bring the acquired business up to our expected levels of safety standards as quickly as anticipated;

we may have difficulty entering into new geographic markets in which we are not experienced; or we may be unable to retain the customers and partners of acquired businesses following the acquisition.

Divestitures also involve significant challenges and risks, including risks that:

we may not obtain required regulatory approvals or our counterparties may not obtain required financing on favorable terms;

management time and attention may be diverted to businesses held for sale;

we may have to write off certain assets, including those relating to goodwill and other intangibles;

we may experience difficulties in the separation of operations; and we may lose key employees.

If we are unable to complete transactions on acceptable terms in a timely manner , or realize expected benefits, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Many federal, state and local requirements governing zoning, land use, air emissions (including carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases), water use, allocation and discharges, waste management, noise and dust control, blasting, mining, land reclamation and other environmental, health and safety matters govern our operations. Many of our operations require permits, which may impose additional operating standards and are subject to modification, renewal and revocation. Agencies may change standards, apply them more stringently, or increase inspection and enforcement emphasis, which can extend timelines, increase capital and operating expenditures, or restrict development or expansion of our sites. If we cannot obtain, renew, or maintain required approvals on acceptable terms and schedules, we may be forced to curtail production, delay projects, or cease operations at affected facilities.

Certain of our operations may from time to time involve the use of substances that are classified as toxic or hazardous within the meaning of these laws and regulations. Despite our extensive efforts to remain in strict compliance at all times with all applicable laws and regulations, the risk of liabilities, particularly environmental liabilities, is inherent in the operation of our businesses. These potential liabilities could result in material costs, including fines or personal injury or damages claims, which could have an adverse impact on our operations and profitability.

Future events, including changes in existing laws or regulations or enforcement policies, or further investigation or evaluation of the potential health hazards of some of our products or business activities, may result in additional or unanticipated compliance and other costs. We could be required to invest in preventive or remedial action, like pollution control facilities, which could be substantial or which could result in restrictions on our operations or delays in obtaining required permits or other approvals. Because future regulatory actions and enforcement priorities are uncertain, we may be unable to predict or fully mitigate their impact on our results.

Our operations involve inherent environmental, manufacturing, operating and handling risks. These risks include the related storage and transportation of raw materials, explosives, products, hazardous substances and wastes, storage tank leaks, explosions, discharges or releases of hazardous substances, exposure to dust, and the operation of mobile equipment and manufacturing machinery. We are also subject to Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for worker health and safety.

These risks can subject us to potentially significant liabilities relating to personal injury, death or property damage, and may result in significant civil or criminal penalties, which could damage our productivity or profitability. For example, from time to time, we investigate and remediate environmental contamination relating to our prior or current operations, as well as operations we have acquired from others, and, in some cases, we have been or could be named as a defendant in litigation brought by governmental agencies or private parties to investigate or clean up such contamination.

Failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, permits, or orders, or adverse changes in those requirements or their enforcement, could result in fines, penalties, operational restrictions, mandated capital projects, denial or revocation of permits, reputational damage, and increased costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We are involved from time to time in litigation and claims arising from our operations. While we do not believe the outcome of pending or threatened litigation will have a material adverse effect on our operations or our financial condition, an unexpected and material adverse outcome in a pending or future legal action could potentially have a negative effect on our Company. Even when we believe we have meritorious defenses or when we are seeking legal remedies, legal proceedings can be costly and time-consuming, divert management attention, and create reputational risk.

Federal, state, and local authorities continue to propose and implement climate-related requirements, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limits, the use of alternative fuels, carbon credits (such as a cap-and-trade system), carbon taxes, mandatory GHG monitoring, reporting, and assurance, and disclosure of climate-related risks and transition plans. Our cement plant and our Woodville, Ohio and Manistee, Michigan Specialties plants are strictly regulated with respect to GHG emissions and hold Title V Permits under USEPA regulations, and our cement plant and Woodville plant are also subject to the U.S. Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) requirements which require a permit program for certain new or modified sources of emissions.

If future modifications to our Specialties or cement facilities require PSD review for other pollutants, GHG permitting requirements may also be triggered, which could require us to incur significant additional costs. It is not possible, however, to estimate the cost of any future requirements at this time.

In addition, although our aggregates, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and paving operations are not considered “major” sources of GHG emissions subject to the USEPA reporting rule, any additional regulatory restrictions on emissions of GHGs imposed by the USEPA would likely impact our magnesia-based chemicals operations in Woodville, Ohio and Manistee, Michigan, as well as our cement operation in Texas, which in 2025 filed annual reports of GHG emissions as required by the USEPA reporting rule. We may not be able to recover any increased operating costs, taxes or capital investments (other than with respect to any carbon reduction or capture technologies) relating to GHG emission limitations at those plants from our customers in order to remain competitive in pricing in the relevant markets.

Our businesses also are dependent on reliable sources of energy and fuels. We could incur increased costs or disruptions in our operations if climate change legislation and regulation (including regulatory changes with respect to alternative fuel use) or severe weather affect the price or availability of purchased energy or fuels or other materials used in our operations.

States where we operate may adopt additional or more stringent requirements, such as market-based emissions programs, mandated use of alternative fuels, or climate-disclosure regimes which could add measurement, verification / assurance, reporting, and compliance costs and increase potential enforcement exposure.

Compliance with current or future climate-related rules could require capital investments, changes in operating practices, procurement of emissions allowances or credits, or participation in carbon markets. While we do not currently believe such requirements will have a material adverse effect on the financial condition or results of the operations of either the Specialties business or Building Materials business, in light of the various regulatory uncertainties, the Company cannot presently predict the costs of any future compliance requirements. We continue to monitor GHG regulations and legislation and its potential impact on our business, financial condition and product demand.

Our businesses are sensitive to interest-rate and credit conditions because a substantial portion of demand for our products is tied to the construction markets. Therefore, our business in these industries may experience declines from sustained high or rising interest rates and cost increases.

Notably, demand in the residential construction market in which we sell our aggregates products is affected by interest rates. While the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates several times during 2025, they remain above the current rate of inflation resulting in continued restrictive monetary policy. Sustained high interest rates may affect our business in an adverse manner. The residential construction market accounted for 22% of our 2025 aggregates shipments. Higher mortgage rates and reduced affordability can dampen new residential construction. Higher borrowing costs and return thresholds can delay or cancel private nonresidential projects. Elevated municipal and state borrowing costs can affect the timing and scope of infrastructure lettings. Any of these dynamics can lower volumes and pressure pricing in the local markets we serve.

Rising interest rates could also result in disruptions in the credit markets, which could affect our business.

Our effective tax rate is influenced by many factors, including changes in federal, state and local laws and regulations, administrative guidance and court decisions. Because tax rules are complex and change over time our effective tax rate and cash taxes may be volatile and difficult to predict and may be influenced by the following factors among others:

governmental authorities increasing tax rates or eliminating deductions, particularly the depletion deduction;

the mix of earnings from depletable versus non-depletable businesses;

the jurisdictions in which earnings are taxed;

the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities;

changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;

adjustments to estimated taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;

changes in the availability of tax credits;

changes in stock-based compensation;

the write-off of nondeductible goodwill resulting from divestitures or impairments;

audits, examinations or litigation;

other changes in tax laws; and the interpretation of tax laws and/or administrative practices.

Any significant increase in our future effective income tax rate could reduce our net earnings and free cash flow for future periods.

Investors, other stakeholders, and U.S. and international regulators are often focused on climate change and sustainability matters. For example, new and proposed laws, regulations and investor and proxy advisory guidelines relating to and requiring disclosure of such matters, including those relating to sustainability, emissions, supply chain, and human capital management, are under consideration or being adopted, or may be proposed in the future. These requirements have resulted in and may continue to result in our need to make additional investments and implement new practices and reporting processes, all entailing management attention and additional compliance risk. We have announced certain sustainability-related goals, targets, or ambitions, including GHG-reduction objectives. Any failure or perceived failure to achieve or accurately report on our current or future sustainability-related commitments, including our GHG reduction and net zero ambition and targets, and any differences between our commitments and those of any companies to which we are compared, could harm our reputation, adversely affect our ability to effectively compete (including as a result of disclosure of proprietary information regarding our plants or changes in our ability to raise capital), adversely affect our recruitment and retention efforts or expose us to potential legal liability.

Achieving these outcomes may depend on factors outside our control, such as the pace of technology development and deployment, grid decarbonization, the availability and cost of renewable energy or lower-carbon inputs. While we are committed to pursuing our sustainability objectives, there is no assurance that we will achieve any of our sustainability goals or commitments, that low- or non-carbon-based energy sources and technologies required to meet long-term emissions reductions in some of the sectors in which we operate will be available at scale in the United States on an economically feasible basis or that we or our suppliers can meet sustainability, emissions reductions and other standards that are required by current or future laws or established as investment criteria, voting guidelines or activism triggers by our investors and other stakeholders.

Failure to meet these commitments could result in reputational harm to our Company and changes regarding climate risk management and practices may result in higher regulatory and compliance risks and costs.

Our businesses could be negatively impacted by the widespread outbreak of an illness or other communicable disease, or any other public health crisis that results in economic and trade disruptions. Public health threats can negatively impact economic activity, consumer confidence and discretionary spending, and overall market conditions and these conditions could have an impact on our Company to the extent that they occur in regions where our Building Materials business principally operates. Further, outbreaks of illnesses could negatively affect the health of our employees, employee productivity, customer purchasing patterns and fulfillment of purchase orders, availability of supplies, pricing for raw materials and the ability to transport materials via the Company’s distribution network.

We actively monitor public health situations as part of our health and safety measures to comply with federal, state and local mandates and to protect the health and safety of our employees. We may take further actions that alter our business operations, including any that may be required by federal, state or local authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, suppliers, vendors, communities and other stakeholders as we adapt to public health events from time to time.

Labor unions represented 13% of the hourly employees of our Building Materials business and 59% of the hourly employees of our Specialties business as of December 31, 2025. Our collective bargaining agreements for employees of our Specialties business at the Woodville, Ohio lime plant, the Manistee, Michigan synthetic magnesia plant and the Gabbs, Nevada magnesia mine and processing plant expire in June 2026, August 2027 and June 2028, respectively.

T7Disputes with our trade unions, or the inability to renew our labor agreements, could lead to work stoppages or other actions that could disrupt our businesses, raise costs and reduce revenues and earnings from the affected locations.

Labor actions by our suppliers, contractors, railroads, ports, trucking firms, or other logistics providers may interrupt inbound materials or outbound deliveries, increase delivered costs, or require us to source alternatives. Tight labor markets, especially for skilled trades and licensed commercial drivers, can constrain operating days, raise turnover and training costs, and delay maintenance or capital projects.

If we are unable to maintain stable labor relations, renew agreements on acceptable terms, staff operations adequately, or mitigate third-party labor disruptions, our production, shipments, costs and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued services of, and on our ability to attract and retain, our key personnel and executive officers, including qualified management, technical, marketing and sales, and support personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, and we may not be successful in attracting or retaining such qualified personnel, which could negatively affect our business.

Our geographically dispersed footprint and the physically demanding nature of many roles can intensify recruiting and retention challenges, particularly in rural or less-populated areas. If we are unable to fill vacancies timely, maintain appropriate crew sizes, or retain key personnel and subject-matter experts, we may experience more frequent equipment downtime, slower maintenance or capital work, reduced operating days, and delays in customer service or project support.

In addition, because of our reliance on our senior management team, the unanticipated departure of any key member could have an adverse effect on our business. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to identify and develop or recruit talent to succeed our senior management and other key positions throughout the organization. If we fail to identify and develop or recruit successors, we are at risk of being harmed by the departures of these key employees. Effective succession planning is also important to our long-term success and strategy execution. Failure to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees could hinder our strategic planning and execution.

We are subject to regulation under a wide variety of U.S. federal and state and some non-U.S. laws, regulations and policies, including laws related to anticorruption, antibribery, export and import compliance, antitrust and money laundering, due to our operations. We cannot provide assurance that our compliance policies and internal controls will always protect us from the improper conduct of our employees, agents and business partners. Any violations of law or improper conduct could damage our reputation and, depending on the circumstances, subject us to, among other things, civil and criminal penalties, material fines, equitable remedies (including profit disgorgement and injunctions on future conduct), securities litigation and a general loss of investor confidence, any one of which could have a material adverse impact on our business prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the market value of our stock.

The property and machinery needed to produce our products are very costly. Therefore, we require large amounts of cash to operate our businesses. In addition to capital expenditures, our businesses incur significant repair and maintenance costs for critical equipment and replacement parts. Prices and lead times for parts and contractor services can be volatile due to supply-chain disruptions, limited supplier alternatives, inflation, labor availability, and logistics constraints. Unexpected equipment failures or extended outages can further increase repair spending and parts consumption. We believe that our cash on hand, along with our projected operating cash flows and our available financing resources, is adequate to support our anticipated operating and capital needs.

Our ability to generate sufficient cash flow depends on future performance, which will be subject to general economic conditions, industry cycles and financial, business and other factors affecting our operations, many of which are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash to operate our business, we may be required, among other things, to reduce or delay planned capital or operating expenditures.

Our manufacturing processes are dependent upon critical pieces of equipment, such as our kilns and finishing mills. This equipment, on occasion, is out of service as a result of planned or unplanned maintenance, failures or damage during accidents. In addition to equipment failures, our facilities are also subject to the risk of catastrophic loss due to unanticipated events, such as fires, explosions or violent weather conditions. We have scheduled outages that can range from one week to several weeks at least once a year to refurbish our cement and dolomitic lime production facilities. In 2025, our cement and Specialties operations incurred shutdown costs of $23 million and $8 million, respectively.

Any significant interruption in production capability may require us to make significant capital expenditures to remedy problems or damage as well as cause us to lose revenue due to lost production time.

The accounting standards we use in preparing our financial statements are often complex and require that we make significant estimates and assumptions in interpreting and applying those standards. These estimates and assumptions involve matters that are inherently uncertain and require subjective and complex judgments. If we used different estimates and assumptions or used different ways to determine these estimates, our financial results could differ.

While we believe our estimates and assumptions are appropriate, we could be wrong. Accordingly, our financial results could be different, either higher or lower. We urge you to read Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates included under Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of the Form 10-K.

The accounting standards we apply in preparing our financial statements are reviewed by regulatory bodies and change periodically. New or revised accounting standards could, either positively or negatively, affect results reported for periods after adoption of the standards as compared with the prior periods, or require retrospective application changing results reported for prior periods. We urge you to read about our accounting policies and new accounting pronouncements in Note A: Accounting Policies of our consolidated financial statements included under Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Form 10-K.

Reports from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) inspections of public accounting firms continue to outline findings and recommendations that could require these firms to perform additional work as part of their financial statement audits. Our costs to respond to these additional requirements may increase.

Goodwill and other certain acquired intangible assets expected to contribute indefinitely to our cash flows are not amortized, but must be evaluated for impairment by management at least annually. If the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the reporting unit's goodwill is considered impaired and a non-cash charge to earnings is recorded for the difference. If the carrying value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is greater than its fair value, the intangible asset is considered impaired and is reduced to fair value via a non-cash charge to earnings. Future events may occur that would adversely affect the fair value of our goodwill or other acquired intangible assets and require impairment charges.

Such events may include, but are not limited to, lower-than-forecasted revenues or profitability, construction growth rates that fall below our assumptions, actions of key customers, increases in interest rates, continued economic uncertainty, higher levels of unemployment, weak consumer confidence, lower levels of discretionary consumer spending and a decline in the trading price of our common stock. We continue to evaluate the impact of economic and other developments to assess whether impairment indicators are present. Accordingly, we may be required to perform impairment tests based on changes in the economic environment and other factors, and these tests could result in impairment charges in the future.

Demand for aggregates products, particularly in the infrastructure construction market, has historically been negatively affected by federal and state budget challenges and uncertainty over future highway funding levels. Further, delays to or cancellations of capital projects in the nonresidential and residential construction markets could occur if companies and consumers are unable to obtain financing for construction projects or if consumer confidence is eroded by economic uncertainty.

A recessionary construction economy can also increase the likelihood we will not be able to collect all our accounts receivable from our customers. While we are protected in part by payment bonds posted by many of our customers or end-users, as well as statutory lien rights, we have experienced delays in payment from some of our customers during downturns especially in the construction markets and expect that we would experience such delays in the future, which would negatively affect operating cash flows.

Our access to and cost of capital may be adversely affected. Additional financing or refinancing might not be available and, if available, may not be at economically favorable terms. Further, an increase in leverage could lead to deterioration in our credit ratings. A reduction in our credit ratings, regardless of the cause, could also limit our ability to obtain additional financing and/or increase our cost of obtaining financing. There is no guarantee we will be able to access the capital markets at financially economical interest rates, which could negatively affect our business.

We may be required to obtain financing in order to fund certain strategic acquisitions, if they arise, or to refinance our outstanding debt or for other corporate purposes. It is possible a large strategic acquisition would require that we issue new equity and debt securities in order to maintain our investment-grade credit rating and could result in a ratings downgrade notwithstanding our issuance of equity securities to fund the transaction. We are also exposed to risks from tightening credit markets, through the interest payable on any variable-rate debt, including the interest cost on future borrowings under our credit facilities. Although we maintain committed credit facilities and actively manage liquidity, there is no assurance financing will be available when needed or on acceptable terms, that customers will remain current, or that public-sector funding will be insulated from market conditions.

If credit markets tighten or remain volatile, the combined effects, lower private and public construction activity, slower collections, higher input and delivered costs, increased interest expense, reduced covenant flexibility, or ratings pressure, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our Specialties business sells some of its products outside the United States. Therefore, the operations of the Specialties business are affected from time to time by the fluctuating values of the currency exchange rates of the countries in which it does business in relation to the value of the U.S. Dollar. The business tries to mitigate the short-term effects of currency exchange rates by denominating sales in the U.S. Dollar. This still leaves the business subject to certain risks, depending on the strength of the U.S. Dollar.

Our paving operations face challenges when our contracts have penalties for late completion. In some instances, including many of our fixed-price contracts, we guarantee project completion by a certain date. If we subsequently fail to complete the project as scheduled, we may be held responsible for costs resulting from the delay, generally in the form of contractually agreed-upon liquidated damages. Under these circumstances, the total project cost could exceed our original estimate, and we could experience a lower profit or a loss on the project. In our paving operations, we also have fixed-price and fixed-unit-price contracts where our profits can be adversely affected by a number of factors beyond our control, which can cause our actual costs to materially exceed the costs estimated at the time of our original bid.

These same issues and risks can also impact some of our contracts in our asphalt and ready mixed concrete operations. These risks are somewhat mitigated by the fact that a majority of our road paving contracts are for short-term projects. Our ready mixed concrete and asphalt and paving operations typically generate lower profit margins than our aggregates and cement operations due to potentially volatile input costs, highly competitive market dynamics and lower barriers to entry.

A portion of our current and former employees has accrued benefits under our defined benefit pension plans. Requirements for funding our pension plan liabilities are based on a number of actuarial assumptions, including the expected rate of return on our plan assets and the discount rate applied to our pension plan obligations. Fluctuations in equity market returns and changes in long-term interest rates could increase our costs under our defined benefit pension plans and may significantly affect future contribution requirements. It is unknown what the actual investment return on our pension assets will be in future years and what interest rates may be at any given point in time. We cannot therefore provide any assurance of what our actual pension plan costs will be in the future, or whether we will be required under applicable law to make future material plan contributions.

Our businesses require a continued supply of diesel fuel, natural gas, coal, petroleum coke and other energy. Prices and availability for these inputs are influenced by global and regional supply-demand dynamics, refining and generation capacity, weather and other physical risks, transportation and labor constraints, geopolitics and trade policy, regulatory changes and supplier operating issues. These factors can cause rapid, significant, and uneven price movements across our footprint and may limit supply in one or more markets. Our financial results have historically been affected by the short supply or high costs of these fuels and energy. Changes in energy costs also affect the prices that we pay for related supplies, including explosives, conveyor belting and tires.

While we can contract for some fuels and sources of energy, such as fixed-price supply contracts for natural gas, coal and petroleum coke, significant increases in costs or reduced availability of these items have and may in the future reduce our financial results. Moreover, fluctuations in the supply and costs of these fuels and energy can make planning for our businesses more difficult. Because of the fluctuating trends in diesel fuel prices, we may enter into fixed-price fuel agreements from time to time for a portion of our diesel fuel to reduce our diesel fuel price risk.

Even where supply is available, our delivered costs can rise due to logistics constraints. Limited availability or higher rates for trucks and licensed drivers, rail service and cars, port capacity, or pipeline interruptions can delay deliveries, reduce operating days, or force us to source from higher-cost alternatives. Utility interruptions or curtailments (electricity, natural gas, or water) can further constrain output or alter our product and geographic mix, particularly at energy-intensive facilities.

Cement production requires large amounts of energy, including electricity and fossil fuels. Therefore, the cost of energy is one of our largest expenses. Prices for energy are subject to market forces largely beyond our control and can be volatile. Cost increases that we are unable to pass through to the customer in the form of price increases for our products or disruption of the uninterrupted supply of fuel and electricity could adversely affect us. Accordingly, energy cost volatility can adversely affect the financial results of our cement business. The Midlothian cement operation has fixed-price agreements for a portion of its anticipated 2026 coal, electricity and natural gas needs.

Similarly, our downstream operations also require a continued supply of liquid asphalt and cement, which serve as key raw materials in the production of hot mix asphalt and ready mixed concrete, respectively. Some of these raw materials we produce internally, but most are purchased from third parties. These purchased raw materials are subject to potential supply constraints and significant price fluctuations, which are beyond our control. The financial results of our ready mixed concrete and asphalt and paving operations have been affected by the short supply or high costs of these raw materials. We generally see frequent volatility in the prices for these raw materials.

Cement competition is often based primarily on price, which is highly sensitive to changes in supply and demand. Prices fluctuate significantly in response to relatively minor changes in supply and demand, general economic conditions and other market conditions, which we cannot control. When cement producers increase production capacity or more cement is imported into the market, an oversupply of cement in the market may occur if supply exceeds demand. In that case, cement prices generally decline. We cannot be assured that prices for our cement products will not decline in the future or that such decline will not have a material adverse effect on our cement product line.

Our Specialties business sells some of its products to companies in the steel industry. Accordingly, this business is dependent, in part, on the strength of the cyclical steel industry. Our Specialties business also requires significant amounts of natural gas, coal and petroleum coke, and financial results are negatively affected by increases in fuel prices or shortages. Our Specialties business has fixed-price agreements for 34% of its anticipated 2026 coal, petroleum coke and natural gas needs.

We rely on information technology systems and networks, some of which are managed by third-party vendors, including cloud-based systems and managed service providers, to operate our business and to securely process, store and transmit confidential, sensitive and proprietary information relating to our business operations, including sensitive information about our customers and employees. T10Cyber threats are rapidly evolving as threat actors have become increasingly sophisticated and carry out direct large-scale, complex attacks against a company and are reportedly using artificial intelligence to increase the virulence of attacks. In addition, we have relied on our information technology infrastructure to support remote work from time to time and may need to do so in the future, which can increase cyber risks.

We are not able to anticipate or prevent all such attacks and could be held liable for any resulting material security breach or data loss. In addition, it is not always possible to deter or detect misconduct by employees or third-party vendors.

While we have experienced attacks to breach the security of our information technology systems, we are not aware that we have experienced a material cybersecurity incident during the 2025 fiscal year. Breaches of our technology systems and those of acquired companies, or those of our vendors and customers, whether from circumvention of security systems, denial-of-service attacks or other cyber-attacks, hacking, “phishing” or "quishing" attacks, computer viruses, ransomware or malware, employee or insider error, malfeasance, social engineering, vendor software supply chain compromises, physical breaches or other actions, may result in manipulation or corruption of sensitive data, material interruptions or malfunctions in our Company’s or such vendors’ and customers’ websites, applications, data processing and certain products and services, or disruption of other business operations.

Furthermore, any such breaches could compromise the confidentiality and integrity of material information held by our Company (including information about our business, employees or customers), as well as sensitive personally identifiable information, the disclosure of which could lead to identity theft and liability under data privacy laws. Breaches of our products that rely on technology and internet connectivity can expose our Company to product and other liability risk and reputational harm. Measures that we take to avoid, detect, mitigate or recover from material incidents may be insufficient, circumvented, or may become ineffective.

We have invested and continue to invest in risk management and information security and data privacy measures in order to protect our systems and data, including employee training, organizational investments, incident response plans, table top exercises and technical defenses. The cost and operational consequences of implementing, maintaining and enhancing further data or system protection measures could increase significantly to overcome increasingly intense, complex and sophisticated global cyber threats. Despite our best efforts, we are not fully insulated from data breaches and system disruptions. In addition, we are subject to complex and evolving laws, rules and regulations related to cybersecurity. These laws or regulations may be subject to uncertain or inconsistent interpretations and enforcement.

Any material breaches of cybersecurity, including the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data, or failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable laws, rules, or regulations, or any media reports of perceived security vulnerabilities to our systems, products and services or those of third parties relied upon by our Company could cause us to experience reputational harm, loss of customers and revenue, fines, regulatory actions and scrutiny, sanctions or other statutory penalties, litigation, liability for failure to safeguard our customers’ information or financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by our Company.

The report, rumor or assumption regarding a potential breach may have similar results, even if no breach has been attempted or occurred. Any of the foregoing may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Transportation logistics play an important role in allowing us to supply products to our customers, whether by road, rail or water. We also rely heavily on third-party truck and rail transportation to ship coal, natural gas and other fuels to our plants. Any significant delays, disruptions or the non-availability of our transportation support system could negatively affect our operations. Transportation operations are subject to capacity constraints, high fuel costs and various hazards, including extreme weather conditions and slowdowns due to labor strikes and other work stoppages. In Texas, we compete for third-party trucking services with operations in the oil and gas fields, which can significantly constrain the availability of those services to us.

If there are material changes in the availability or cost of transportation services, we may not be able to arrange alternative and timely means to transport our products or fuels at a reasonable cost, which could lead to interruptions or slowdowns in our businesses or increases in our costs.

The availability of railcars can also affect our ability to transport our products. Railcars can be used to transport many different types of products across all of our segments. If owners sell or lease railcars for use in other industries, we may not have enough railcars to transport our products.

We have agreements with shipping companies to provide ships to transport our aggregates products from our Bahamas and Nova Scotia operations to various coastal ports that expire in 2026 and 2027, respectively. Our inability to renew these agreements or enter into new ones with other shipping companies could affect our ability to transport our products.

Some of our products are distributed by barges along rivers in Ohio and West Virginia. We may experience, to a lesser degree, risks associated with distributing our products by barges, including significant delays, disruptions or the non-availability of our barge transportation system that could negatively affect our operations, water levels that could affect our ability to transport our products by barge, and barges that may not be available in quantities that we might need from time to time to support our operations.

Our restated articles of incorporation and restated bylaws and North Carolina law contain provisions that may delay, deter or inhibit a future acquisition of us not approved by our Board of Directors. This could occur even if our shareholders are offered an attractive value for their shares or if many or even a majority of our shareholders believe the takeover is in their best interest. These provisions are intended to encourage any person interested in acquiring us to negotiate with and obtain the approval of our Board of Directors in connection with the transaction. Provisions that could delay, deter or inhibit a future acquisition include the following:

the ability of our Board of Directors to establish the terms of, and issue, preferred stock without shareholder approval;

the requirement that our shareholders may remove directors only for cause;

the inability of our shareholders to call special meetings of shareholders;

super-majority shareholder approval requirements for business combination transactions with certain five percent shareholders; and advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by our shareholders at shareholder meetings.

Additionally, the occurrence of certain change-of-control events could result in an event of default under certain of our existing or future debt instruments.