Granite Construction Inc. reported net income of $69.1 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017 compared with net income of $57.1 million in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the year was $1.71 compared to $1.42 per share in 2016.
Granite reported net income of $32.8 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, compared with net income of $16.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Diluted EPS in the quarter was $0.81 compared to $0.40 per share in the prior-year period.
“Granite delivered outstanding revenue growth and improved profitability in 2017, thanks to the continued focus of our employees and teams on execution, quality and safety,” said James H. Roberts, president and chief executive officer of Granite Construction Inc. “A mild start to winter across much of the West allowed our teams to work efficiently to execute on last quarter’s all-time record backlog. With today’s steady economic trends and steady-to-improving funding environments, along with our ongoing focus on operating efficiency, we expect to continue to drive strong cash flow generation and help deliver significant profit improvement in 2018 and beyond.
“The Construction segment in 2017 produced a third consecutive year with gross profit margin in line with our mid-teens expectations, and a strong year-end performance enabled our Construction Materials segment to deliver solid quarterly and annual profit and margin improvement. As we have seen for much of the past couple years, the Large Project Construction segment was the most challenging, but we expect significant improvement in the back half of 2018,” Roberts continued.
Revenues for 2017 were $2.99 billion, up 18.9 percent from 2016. Gross profit increased 4.5 percent year-over-year to $314.9 million, driven by improved performance in the Construction and Construction Materials segments.
Construction Materials revenue increased 12.1 percent to $292.8 million compared with $261.2 million last year, primarily attributable to increased demand across geographies, as well as modest price increases.
Gross profit margin in 2017 was 13.0 percent, compared with 10.7 percent in 2016, as overall public-market demand improved. Profitability also was impacted positively late in the year, as steady demand and mild late-2017 weather allowed us to work later and more efficiently than in 2016.
Construction revenue in 2017 was $1.66 billion, up 21.9 percent from $1.37 billion in 2016, driven by improved performance in certain Western markets, supported by steady private, non-residential construction demand.