Hanson weighs in

The third largest producer in the U.S. market has weighed in with financial results. Hanson plc posted a 12 percent increase in second-half profit, buoyed by acquisitions and demand for asphalt and gravel from U.S. road-builders. Pretax profit advanced to 287.6 million pounds ($561 million) from 257 million pounds a year earlier. Sales at the London-based company rose 8.6 percent to 2.14 billion pounds. Hanson gets almost half its revenue from North America. "Infrastructure spending in the U.S. is a robust program and a very good platform for our business,'' Chief Executive Officer Alan Murray said. "Aggregates are a scarce reserve and we encourage strong price discipline to recover cost increases.'' (Scarce? Hmmmmm.) Hanson stock rose to its highest level in almost five months on Feb. 20 as Vulcan Materials Co.'s purchase of Florida Rock Industries Inc. bolstered optimism about building demand in the U.S. Hanson has itself been the subject of takeover speculation, spoken about both as a target for Mexico's Cemex SA and as a potential partner for Rinker Group Ltd. of Australia, as it fights off a takeover by Cemex. Your comment?