Florida Rock Industries, Inc. Announces First Quarter Earnings Expectation

Business Wire, Jan 7, 2003

Business Editors

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 2003

Florida Rock Industries, Inc. (NYSE:FRK) today announced its expectation, based on a preliminary analysis of first quarter results, that results for the first quarter of fiscal 2003 would be greater than its 2001 first quarter results but less than its record first quarter results of fiscal 2002. The Company currently expects that first quarter earnings will be in the range of 41 to 45 cents per diluted share.

Last year's first quarter was enhanced with unusually favorable weather conditions and a spike in construction activity following the September 11 slowdown that generated the Company's best monthly operating performance ever in October of 2002. Comparing this year's first quarter to last year's first quarter, concrete yardage and revenues were down in the range of eleven percent. In the aggregates segment, volumes were down in a comparable eleven percent range while revenues declined more modestly in the range of six to seven percent. Cement volumes and revenues improved significantly quarter over quarter in a range in excess of thirty-five percent.

The Company anticipates issuing a press release on first quarter earnings after the market closes on January 27 and hosting a conference call at 10:00 a.m. E.S.T. on Tuesday, January 28.

Florida Rock Industries, Inc. is one of the nation's leading producers of construction aggregates, a major provider of ready-mixed concrete and concrete products in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States and a significant supplier of cement in Florida and Georgia.

Investors are cautioned that any statements in this press release which relate to the future are, by their nature, subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements. These include general business conditions, competitive factors, political, economic, regulatory and weather conditions, pricing, government spending levels on transportation projects, interest rate changes, energy and transportation costs and technological contingencies. Additional information regarding these and other risk factors and uncertainties may be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.