USG has its 'best quarter in almost a decade'

USG Corporation chairman, president and CEO James Metcalf said that the company's recent first quarter was "arguably the best quarter we've had in almost a decade."

With a 6.3% net sales increase to $970 million, plus a net income increase from $24 million to $67 million, it's not hard to see why.

Operating profit margin also improved substantially -- that's a change from 13.8% to 19.0% in the US Gypsum segment, and a change from 16.5% to 22.7% for US Ceilings.

“We realized significant operating margin expansion in all of our US operations, led by our Ceilings business, which turned in an all-time record quarter," added Metcalf.

Ceilings earned $29 million of operating profit, up from $21 million last year. Margins went up 620 basis points to 22.7%, the best in the history of the US Ceilings business, thanks to stronger pricing in tile, improved volumes and lower costs in all ceilings products.

“We’ve started off 2016 by generating positive momentum that we can build on the rest of the year,” added Metcalf. “We’ll advance our Plan to Win throughout 2016 by strengthening our core businesses, diversifying our earnings, and differentiating USG through innovation.”