Lafarge Corp.

From the April 28, 1997 Washington Post

	'96 (in $ 000s)	% Change From '95
Revenue	1,649,300	12.0
Net Income	140,800	8.6
Rank Last Year: 15

Description:
Lafarge Corp. is one of North America's leading producers of construction materials. The company operates 14 cement production plants and more than 400 construction materials businesses that manufacture ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, concrete block and pipe. Lafarge SA of France owns 53 percent of the voting shares of the company.

Business Resume: Contact Info -- 11300 Sunrise Valley Dr. Reston, Va. 20191 703-264-3600 Main Business -- Manufacturing-cement Founded -- 1983 Chairperson -- Bertrand Collomb President -- John M. Piecuch (CEO) Employees -- 6,800 D.C.-Area Employees -- 65

Developments:
A new high for cement consumption in the United States, along with favorable pricing trends and improvements in volume, contributed to record earnings of $140.8 million for Lafarge.

At the end of last year, the company finished supplying most of the materials used in the construction of the eight-mile Confederation Bridge, which links the Canadian province of New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. Lafarge also established a joint venture in Toronto, named Innocon, which the company says should help achieve operating efficiency in that market's oversupplied ready-mix concrete industry.

In addition, Lafarge created a new line of business when it entered the gypsum wallboard field in September, acquiring two plants in Buchanan, N.Y., and Wilmington, Del.

Lafarge said that over the past four years, operating profit has more than tripled and overhead expenses and interest costs have been cut by almost $70 million.