Overview
L.E.K. works with leading organizations globally across a wide range of construction materials, including aggregates, cement, concrete, forestry products and masonry. Our experience across global markets for these materials makes us well-positioned to provide expert decision analysis, proven expertise and innovative thinking.
Examples of our work
We have helped companies for a range of building materials better understand and respond to evolving market challenges to drive profitable growth and outsized returns.
- Assessment of competitors’ potential divestiture assets: L.E.K. conducted market, strategic and competitive assessments on 38 potential divestiture assets across seven MSAs for a leading building materials company. Analyses included determining residential housing outlook by county, assessing the impact of vertical integration and determining the capacity of RMC facilities. Through this engagement, the client had a better-informed entry and bid strategy, as well as a prioritization of which divestiture assets to acquire.
- Post-acquisition integration plan: Following an acquisition, L.E.K. was asked to determine where synergy efforts needed to be realized. We created a detailed integration plan to reach the revenue and EBITDA improvements indicated in its synergy model. And we recommended specific actions that were required in order to achieve the expected revenue improvements and cost savings from the acquisition.
- Strategy: A leading European precast concrete manufacturer asked L.E.K. to help define its strategy. We reviewed and assessed several potential growth opportunities (new geographies, new markets, other materials, etc.) and investigated in detail the most attractive opportunities in order to assess their impact on the client (in terms of sales, margin and synergies) and their feasibility (proximity with current business, capital expenditure, time frame, risks). Following this review, we established a clear strategic road map and assisted the client in developing its business plan.
- Aggregates reserve depletion assessment: L.E.K. helped a top 10 international construction materials company strategize in light of several of its aggregate quarries being depleted. We produced a forecast of aggregate sourcing for the client’s key markets and ran several scenarios comparing the NPV impact of adding various sources over time. We solved for a common set of optimal solutions across a series of depletion and reserve investment scenarios to determine the optimal outcome across a variety of conditions. The benefit for the client was a 50-year forecast of aggregate sourcing for its key markets and a forecast identifying significant demand that will be unmet given the current set of quarries.
- Market entry strategy: For a leading construction materials producer, L.E.K. evaluated the precast concrete market and assessed the attractiveness of entering the market. Our work included an assessment of the market size, growth trends and precast share across applications (flooring, walling, pipes, etc.) and end markets (residential, nonresidential, infrastructure). The project provided the client with a prioritized set of opportunities, likely returns and scale of investment required.