Kevin Gainey: So, I wanted to maybe touch on ready-mix. It looks like it’s probably the best margin since maybe 2016, I don’t want to make too much of one quarter, but as far as that business, is there any structurally improvement there that maybe change things after a number of challenging years?
Ward Nye: Yes, I would say several things. One, the pricing worked well in ready-mix, number one. Number two, the ready-mix business that we have is largely a Texas ready-mix business and an Arizona ready-mix business. So number one, they tend to be warm weather states. Number two, keep in mind, particularly in Texas, we are selling aggregates to that business. We are selling cement to that business. So, about 30% of our cement is going to find its way to our own ready-mix business. We are selling degrees of our own cement in Arizona though not the same degree. So, if we look at what the drivers were, I mean you saw shipments were relatively flat. ASP was up 21%. And part of what we are seeing, and this is not a surprise, is strength in infrastructure and non-res really served to offset what had been degrees of residential softness, particularly around San Antonio and Texas.
So again, you saw a very nice rise in gross profit. You saw gross margin increased 660 basis points. So again, what you are seeing is that business get back to a point that’s largely consistent with the way that we told you we thought that business would work. We told you we thought the margins would be in that low to mid-teens. So, part of what we have done over time, again, I am going to use the word I used before, we have curated the business. And we really have ready-mix there for our overall enterprise. It makes the single most sense, Kevin. So, I hope that gives you an answer to your question.
Kevin Gainey: Yes. Perfect. Thank you, Ward.
Ward Nye: Kevin, thank you.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from David MacGregor of Longbow Research. Please go ahead.
David MacGregor: Yes. Just thanks for taking my follow-up question. There has been a few questions here about cement margins. I am just wondering to what extent are the cement margins benefiting from Martin’s kind of unique position as a large-scale supplier of both cement and aggregates to large Texas projects and your ability to just extract maybe a synergistic margin like winning on both materials?
Ward Nye: First of all, you sly devil coming back for a second question here, David. No, look, I think your question is a really good one. I think you are right. And I think it goes back to our view of such strategic cement. Strategic cement is in a marketplace where we are the leading aggregates player. Strategic cement is where we have a notable downstream business. Strategic cement is where the market is overall built that way. And it’s not close to water. That’s exactly what Dallas-Fort Worth is. That’s exactly what San Antonio is. So, when we go back to the way that we defined strategic cement almost 9 years ago, and what we thought we could do with the business with those attributes. The cement business is benefiting from that.
And clearly, we have got a very healthy concrete business. In North Texas and Central Texas that has benefited from some large projects, for example, in South Texas, what we did with Testa [ph], what we are doing in North Texas right now on any number of large projects. So, I think they have been any number of issues, David, that have come together nicely, but I am going to add, it hasn’t been by accident or happens. This has been a business that we have very carefully built and turned into something that’s a very powerful aspect of who we are. It’s not our aim to be a nationwide global cement player or otherwise. But an aggregates-led business with strategic cement that fits the definition that we have is what we have in Texas, and you can see what the financial results are.
So, I hope that helps.
David MacGregor: Thanks very much.
Ward Nye: Thank you, David.
Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions. I will turn the call back to Ward Nye for closing remarks.
Ward Nye: Michelle, thanks so much for your hosting this today, and thank you all for joining today’s earnings conference call. Martin Marietta’s track record of success proves the resiliency and durability of our aggregates led business model. We continue to strive for safety, commercial and operational excellence and are confident in Martin Marietta’s prospects to continue driving attractive growth and enhanced shareholder value now and into the future. We look forward to sharing our third quarter 2023 results with you in the fall. As always, we are available for any follow-up questions. Thank you again for your time and continued support of Martin Marietta.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude the conference call for today, we thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
