USG's building materials segment and the seventh-largest dealer in the 2014 Prosales 100, L&W Supply, posted a $4 million operating profit in the second quarter of 2014 on net sales of $344 million, compared to an operating profit of $1 million and $319 million in sales one year ago.
Overall, USG posted an operating profit of $98 million on total net sales of $948 million, an improvement over the company's 2Q 2013 operating profit and net sales of $74 million and $916 million, respectively.
In a call with analysts, USG CEO James Metcalf told analysts he expects L&W Supply to "outperform historical operating margins at similar points over cycle." Metcalf also noted that the company needs to take in only $300 million in sales each quarter to break even, down from needing $500 million each quarter before the recession.
Metcalf added that this was USG's strongest quarterly results in seven years. “Despite slower than expected acceleration in industry opportunity, most of our businesses and products improved their performance from a year ago and we also recorded our first full quarter of operations in our USG Boral joint venture," he added.
